US3425578A

US3425578A - Pill container

Info

Publication number: US3425578A
Application number: US665457A
Authority: US
Inventors: Nicoli Owens
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1967-09-05
Filing date: 1967-09-05
Publication date: 1969-02-04
Anticipated expiration: 1986-02-04

Description

Feb. 4, 1969 N. OWE-N5 3,425,518

PILL CONTAINER- Filed Sept. 5. 1967 INVEN'IOR. NICOLI OWENS ATTORNEYS 3,425,578 PILL CONTAINER Nicoli Owens, Box 454, 16 Scene St., Acton, Ontario, Canada Filed Sept. 5, 1967, Ser. No. 665,457 US. Cl. 215-9 4 Claims Int. Cl. B65d 55/02, 83/04; A61 1/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention This invention relates to containers for pills and tablets and is concerned particularly with safety closures for such containers.

Pill containers are normally provided with closures in the form of screw-caps, snap-on caps, plugs or stoppers to retain their contents. Once such a closure is removed the contents of the container become accessible to children, or may easily be spilled. In my Canadian Patent No. 754,906 issued on Mar. 21, 1967, there is described a pill container having a safety closure, apart from the normal closure, which minimizes the risk that a small child shall gain access to the contents of the container, or that the contents shall be spilled. The present invention is concerned with an improved construction of safety closure for such a container.

Summary of the invention According to the invention, the safety closure comprises a .pair of flat, overlapping gate members which gate members are displaceable relative to one another between a first position at which they obstruct the discharge opening of the container and a second, nonobstructing position, and a resilient web interconnecting the gate members for biasing the gate members to said first position. One gate member is formed with a guide slot therein and the other gate member has a pin engaging in the slot for constraining movement of the gate members between the first and second positions. Each gate member is formed with a manually engageable extension which projects through a respective slot in the wall of the container, whereby the gate members may be moved against the resilient bias to the second, nonobstructing position.

Brief description of the drawings One embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a safety closure in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an exploded perspective view of a pill container incorporating the safety closure of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the pill container with its closure cap removed, the safety closure being in its normal position; and

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the pill container, in which the safety closure has been moved to a nonobstructing position.

' United States Patent Olfice 3,425,578 Patented Feb. 4, 1969 Description of the preferred embodiment The pill container shown in the drawings comprises a container body 1 having a cylindrical side wall and a base 2 which closes the lower end of the container, the upper end of the container body being open to provide a discharge opening 3. A snap-on closure cap 4 is provided to close the discharge opening of the container,

the closure cap being formed with a downward-1y extending flange 5, and an inwardly projecting lip 6 which is adapted to engage the underside of a thickened portion or rib 7 adjacent to the discharge opening. An auxiliary safety closure 8 is mounted within the container adjacent to the discharge opening.

The safety closure is a one-piece moulding of resilient plastics material, such as polyethylene, and comprises a pair of overlapping gate members 9, 10, which are displaceable relative to one another and are interconnected by an integrally formed, resilient, upstanding web 11. The lower gate member 9 is an annular disc having a central circular aperture 12, and is formed with a radial extension 13 and an upstanding pin 14. The gate member 10 is also an annular disc having a central circular aperture 15, and is formed with a radial extension 16 and a short arcuate slot 17 in which the pin 14 engages, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, for constraining the relative movements of the gate members.

In the assembled container, the safety closure is retained in position in the container by the

radial extensions

13 and 16, which extend through a pair of diametrically opposed

slots

18, 19 in the side wall of the container body 1. To facilitate the insertion of the safety closure, the inner surface of the cylindrical wall of the container body 1 is formed with short keyways 20 extending from the

slots

18 and 19 to the open end of the body.

The gate members are normally urged by the resilient web 11 into the position illustrated in FIGURE 3, in which the central apertures of the discs overlap to obstruct the discharge opening of the container and prevent the discharge of tablets, such as the tablets 21. The radial extensions 13 and 1'6 are manually engageable, as illustrated in FIGURE 4, for displacing the gate members to a position at which the central apertures thereof are aligned, whereby the discharge of tablets is permitted.

It will be seen that the safety closure cannot be removed from the container easily, and in order to extract the contents of the container it is necessary to engage the radial extensions '13 and 16 manually. Accidental removal of the tablets 2.1 is therefor prevented, and the tablets 21 are difficult of access to a small child.

For additional safety the pin 14 may be formed with a small knob or button at its upper end, so that the pin may be snapped into the slot 17 and retained therein by the knob or button.

What I claim as my invention is:

'1. A pill container having a wall provided with a discharge opening and a safety closure within the container adjacent to the discharge opening, wherein the safety closure comprises a pair of flat, overlapping gate members which gate members are dis'pla'ceable relative to one another between a first position at which they obstruct the discharge opening and a second, non-obstructing position, and a resilient web interconnecting the gate members for biasing the gate members to said first position, one gate member being formed with a guide slot therein and the other gate member having a pin engaging in the slot for constraining movement of the gate members between the first and second positions, and each gate memher having a manually engageable extension projecting through a slot in the container wall whereby the gate members may be moved against the resilient bias of the Web to the second, non-obstructing position.

2. A pill container having a cylindrical wall, the container being closed at one and open at the other end, the Wall being formed with a pair of diametrically opposed -slots adjacent to the open end, and the inner surface of the wall being formed with a pair of keyways extending from the slots to the open end, a closure cap for said open end, and a safety closure within the container adjacent to the open end, the safety closure comprising a pair of flat, overlapping gate members which gate members are displaceable relative to one another between a first position at which they obstruct the discharge of the container contents and a second, nonobstructing position, and a resilient web interconnecting the gate members for biasing the gate members to said first position, one gate member being formed with a guide slot therein and the other gate member having a pin engaging in the slot for constraining movement of the gate members between the first and second positions, and each gate member having a manually engageable extension projecting through a respective slot in the container wall whereby the gate members may be moved against the resilient bias of the web to the second, non-obstructing position.

3. A pill container according to claim 1, wherein the safety closure is a one-piece moulding of plastics material.

4. A pill container according to claim 3, wherein the gate members are annular discs Whose apertures are aligned when the gate members are in said second position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1960 Shaw 206-42 9/ 1967 Henderson 220-41 GEORGE T. HALL, Primary Examiner.