US2881934A

US2881934A - Safety bottle closure

Info

Publication number: US2881934A
Application number: US617534A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gilbert L Rhodes
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1956-10-22
Filing date: 1956-10-22
Publication date: 1959-04-14
Anticipated expiration: 1976-04-14

Description

April 5 G. RHODES 2, ,9

SAFETY BOTTLE CLOSURE Filed'Oct; 22, 1956 4 all" I amaze 71. 24/0055 IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent 2 381,234 SAFETY "BOTTLE GLOSURE G lha L- Rh dsa zCast e s! Calif- Application Qetober 22, 1956, Serial No. 617,534 9 :Z-lfirr99 This invention relates to the closures of bottles, particularly those employed as containers for toxic or noxious substances. i

An object of the invention is to provide a closure in which a certain proceduremust be employed to effect the removal of the closure, that is to say, a procedure that is not evident to a child who might otherwise obtain access to a medicine that could be harmful to him if he swallowed a potion from its contents.

Another object of the invention is to provide a closure or bottle stopper of simple and inexpensive construction that operatesin such a way that considerable pressure must be applied to opposite sides of the closure in order to enable it to be removed from the bottle.

In other words, the act of opening the bottle requires the application of a comprehensive force to the exterior of the closure, that is beyond the capacity of an infant or child of such an age that he might be tempted to amuse himself opening bottles with harmful contents to which he has access.

Further objects of the invention will be evident from a careful reading of the present specification and a study of the accompanying drawing.

Another object of'the invention is to provide an inner cap, and an outer compressible cap with means to establish a positive driving connection between the outer and inner caps operatable by employing a compressive force to effect the removal of theinn'er cap.

The invention consists in the novel parts, and eombinations of parts to be described herein, all of which contribute to produce a novel and effective safety bottle closure.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification, while the broad scope of the invention is'pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view of a portion of a bottle neck illustrating a 'cap embodying my invention applied to the same. As will be noted, the right side of this view shows the eap and the wall of the bottle neck in section. In this embodiment of the invention an interlocking connection is effected between the members at their periphenes.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the bottle cap shown in Fig.- ure 1'.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view showing a portion of the wall of the outer member at the location of its interlocking connection to the inner member. This view is a vertical section which is upon a larger scale than Figure l to show the profile section of an interlocking annular rib that is carried on this part.

Figure 4 is a view illustrating another embodiment of the invention in which the interlocking connection is made on transverse heads near the axis of the cap assembly. This view shows the outer member in section, and illustrates the use of means for effecting a positive connection for imparting the movement to the inner member to effect its removal.

Pate pr- 1 .9

Figure 5 is a p ew .q this embod men of he o u e m l a shown i f gu e 4 u e 6 a V ew s m a t Figure 4 bu l us a ing a reversal of he o a on of ir erls h h pa t f th i terlocking q c onb w e t e n e an ou e members In practicing h in nt n as embodied n th const u i shown n is s t e 9 9mm a semb in udes an inner cap 1 of inverted cup form having a dis; formhead 2 and a circumferential wall or amend).

T inner face r h ap n ha a. s i shhnc tib e 90. nection 9 t neck 4 of the b t that quires ro t n of the inner cap relative to the neck in order to disconneet it. In the' present instance this connection is a suitable thread connection such as shown at 5 Encompassing the peripheral face of the inner cap an annulus or ring 6 is provided, the inner diameter of which is large enough to enable it to be telescoped over the inner cap. The inner diameter of the ring'6 should be very slightly larger than the outer vdiameter of the apron wall 7 of the inner member.

On the outer face of the apron wall 7 I prefer to form a circumferential groove 8 which is continuous all around the periphery of the inner member. This groove may be of a width ,of of an inch'in a cap assembly or a bottle having an inner, closure member of approximately the diameter shown in Figure ;l, though the width of this groove is unimportant.

The depth of the groove 8 may be very slight. It could be as small as .004 of an inch if the annulus 6, or outer member fits very closely at its inner diameter over the outer diameter of the inner member.

In reading Figure 1 it should 'be understood that the outer ring 6 will be preferably telescoped down into place from above, and for this reason a projection to establish this swivel connection should have its bottom side or lower edge relieved by forming an inclined surface or shoulder there; this facilitates the projection forcing its way between the inner face of the ring and the outer face of the apron wall 7.

In the present instance, as indicated in Figure 3, I prefer to employ a rib 9 integral with the ring 6, and of sufficient thickness to provide an abrnpt'shoulder 10 at its upper edge; and its lower edge is formed with a slight bevel or fillet 11.

This outer member or ring 6 is preferably composed of compressible material such as a suitable plastic such as thermoplastic composition, though a high impact styrene also seems advantageous as a composition for thispart.

The materials named will deform when pressed in on opposite sides, as indicated by the arrows shown in Fignre 1,'with sufficient force to develop friction between the outer face of the outer member or ring 6 and the inner face of the apron wall 7 to enable the rotation after the frictional contact of the outer ring is established to impart rotary movement to the inner member 1 to rotate it, and disconnect it from the neck of the bottle.

In the embodiment of this invention illustrated in Figure 6, an outer ring 6 1 is employed which telescopes neatly over, and closely to, the inner member Ia, but in this case the connection between the two members is located at or on the axis of the cap assembly. In other words, in this case I prefer to provide a member 6a with an integral disc or transverse head 12 that seats down onto a similar transverse head 13 that is integral with an apron wall similar to the wall 7 shown in Figure 1.

In order to effect an interlocking connection between these two members 6a and In, I provide an integral button comprising a cylindrical neck 14 with a slightly enlarged tip 15 at its lower end. This tip hasan abrupt shoulder 16 at its upper end and a rounded shoulder 17 at its lower end. When these parts are telescoped together, the rounded shoulder 17 passes down through a cylindrical portion 18 of a socket that passes down through the transverse head 13; and in order to receive the enlarged tip 15 the socket has an undercut groove 19 at its lower end into which the tip 15 expands when the outer member 1a is completely seated.

In this embodiment of the invention it is preferable to apply the compressive forces near the lower edge or end of the outer member 6a. In this case, as in the embodiment shown in Figure 1, friction is relied upon to develop the force that can be imparted to the inner member to disengage it from the bottle for which it operates as a closure.

In Figure 4 I illustrate another embodiment of the invention in which imparting of the rotary movement, instead of relying upon developing a frictional force between the two members composing the closure assembly, I may provide the inner face of the apron wall 20 with one, or a plurality of small longitudinally extending ribs or lugs 21 as shown.

In a zone at the same level, and opposite these lugs 21, on the outer face of the apron wall 22 of the inner member, I provide one, or a plurality of small lugs 23. With this construction, it will be evident that by exerting pressure at two diametrically opposite points on the outer wall 20, and then rotating the outer member 24 of the assembly, some one of the lugs 23 will lie in the path of one of the lugs 21, and the two engaged lugs will cooperate to enable a torque force to be imparted to the inner member of the closure.

Such a rotary connection 25 has the same location as shown in Figure 6, but the button is on the inner member at 25 and the socket is on the transverse head of the outer member. This connection has the same characteristics as that illustrated in Figure 6.

It will be evident that when the wall of the outer member of the assembly is pressed forcibly inward at diametrically opposite points in any one of the forms of the invention illustrated, contact can be made with the inner member, either frictionally, or by engagement of the lugs, or ribs, the bottle closure can be opened. But such a force could not be exerted by a child, and hence, bottles of this character would be safe even if they were accessible to children.

Many other embodiments of this invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of this invention.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent: I

1. In a safety bottle closure, the combination of an inner cap member having an apron wall surrounding the bottle neck, thread means between the inner member and the bottle neck for securing the inner cap as a closure to the bottle neck; an outer member with a skirt wall telescoped over the apron wall of the inner member, said skirt-wall lying closely to the outer face of the apron wall of the inner member, said members having co-ordinated means thereon interlocking the same together so as to permit their relative rotation with respect to each other, and preventing their relative longitudinal movement with respect to each other, the skirt wall of said outer memberbeing composed of a material capable of being deformed by compression in an adults hands to press the skirt wall against the apron wall of the inner member with sufiicient force to contact the apron wall and to enable rotation of thevouter, skirt wall to be transmitted to the inner cap member, to unscrew the inner cap member on the thread means to remove the inner cap member from the bottle neck.

2. A safety closure for a bottle neck according to claim 1, in which the interlocking connection between the outer member and the inner member includes a circumferential groove on one. of the members and a part projecting into said groove from the other member per- 4 mitting relative rotation of said members and preventing the disconnection of said members from each other.

3. A safety closure for a bottle neck, according to claim 1, in which friction developed upon the surface of the said apron wall imparts movement to the inner member to enable the disconnection of the inner member from the bottle neck to be effected.

4. In a safety bottle closure, the combination of an inner cap member having an apron wall, surrounding the bottle neck, thread means between the inner memher and the bottle neck for securing the inner cap as a closure to the bottle neck; an outer member with a skirt wall telescoped over the apron wall of the inner member, said skirt-wall lying closely to the outer face of the apron wall of the inner member, said members having coordinated means thereon interlocking the same' together so as to permit their relative rotation with respect to each other, and preventing their relative longitudinal movement with respect to each other, the skirt wall of said outer member being composed of a material capable of being deformed by compression in an adults hands to press the skirt wall toward the apron wall of the inner member with sufiicient force to contact the apron wall and to enable rotation of the outer, skirt wall to be transmitted to the inner cap member, to unscrew the inner cap member on the thread means to remove the inner cap member from the bottle member, the material of said skirt wall being sufficiently resistant to prevent pressure in a childs hands from deforming the skirt wall toward the apron wall sufiiciently to transmit a rotation to the inner cap member suflicient to unscrew the inner cap member.

5. A safety-bottle closure means according to claim 4 in which the said means for interlocking the outer and inner member to establish and permit said relative rotation, includes a circumferential groove on one of the members, and a part on the other member projecting into the said groove from the other member.

6. A safety bottle closure means, according to claim 4, in which the friction developed by the pressure between the contacting faces of the outer member and the inner member is suflicient to enable the outer member to transmit the rotary movement to the inner member to rotate the closure.

7. A safety closure for a bottle according to claim 4, in which the said inner member has a circumferential groove disposed about its axis, and the outer member has an inwardly projecting rib lying in said groove to interlock the inner and outer members together.

8. A safety bottle closure according to claim 4, in which the interlocking connection includes a button with an enlarged tip located on the axis of one of the said members, the other member having an undercut socket opening also located on the saidaxis to receive said button when the two members are telescoped together, and the button is pressed into the opening sufficiently to lodge the enlarged tip in said undercut groove.

9. A safety bottle closure according to claim 4, in which the adjacent faces of the apron wall and skirt wall of said members have projecting means carried respectively by said faces, and are located in contiguous zones so that when the wall of the outer member is forcibly compressed the projecting means on that wall can contact with the projecting means on the wall of the inner member lying in its path to enable torque applied to the outer member to be transmitted to the inner member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,359,639 Hanahan Oct. 3, 1944 2,710,701 Hale June 14, 1955 2,717,708 Martinez Sept. 13, 1955