US3690498A

US3690498A - Child-resistant stopper-type closure

Info

Publication number: US3690498A
Application number: US137137A
Authority: US
Inventors: Paul W Harbauer
Original assignee: Paul W Harbauer
Current assignee: BPrex Healthcare Brookville Inc
Priority date: 1971-04-26
Filing date: 1971-04-26
Publication date: 1972-09-12
Anticipated expiration: 1989-09-12

Abstract

A child-resistant closure for a bottle comprising a resilient plastic stopper having a top flange extending outwardly beyond the rim of the bottle. The open mouth of the bottle is fitted with a unique resilient plastic fitment which is permanently attached on the open rim of the bottle and includes an outwardly directed flange underlying the flange of the plastic stopper. The closure is opened by applying an upward pressure to the flange of the fixed plastic fitment, thereby deflecting this flange upwardly to initiate an upward or opening movement of the plastic stopper. Once the stopper is raised slightly in this manner, an adult can complete the removal of the stopper with normal finger pressure.

Description

United States Patent Harbauer CHILD-RESISTANT STOPPER-TYPE CLOSURE [72] Inventor: Paul W. Harbauer, 232 E 5th st.,

Perrysburg, Ohio 43551 22 Filed: April 26,1971

21 Appl.N0.: 137,131

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1970 Lange ..2l5/9 10/ 1971 Linkletter ..2l5/9 Sept. 12, 1972 Primary ExaminerGeorge T. Hall Attorney-Alan J. Steger et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A child-resistant closure for a bottle comprising a resilient plastic stopper having a top flange extending outwardly beyond the rim of the bottle. The open mouth of the bottle is fitted with a unique resilient plastic fitment which is permanently attached on the open rim of the bottle and includes an outwardly directed flange underlying the flange of the plastic stopper. The closure is opened by applying an upward pressure to the flange of the fixed plastic fitment, thereby deflecting this flange upwardly to initiate an upward or opening movement of the plastic stopper. Once the stopper is raised slightly in this manner, an adult can complete the removal of the stopper with normal finger pressure.

14 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures CHILD-RESISTANT STOPPER-TYPE CLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a child-resistant, stoppertype closure for a bottle which incorporates a unique plastic fitment which prevents direct grasping and removal of the stopper.

There are presently available a wide variety of twopiece plastic closures for bottles which are considered to be of the safety or child-resistant type. Such childproofing devices heretofore have required specially constructed bottle caps or bottle necks, or both, which require extensive and costly changes in the packaging industry. In addition, there has heretofore been no such successful application of the child-resistant concept to a stopper-type closure. Thus, in order to have a childresistant closure on a bottle, it has been necessary to select one of the screw-on or snap-on type closures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a unique bottle closure of the stopper type which incorporates a plastic fitment adapted to render the closure child resistant.

A resilient plastic stopper is taught by the subject invention to include a top flange extending outwardly beyond the rim of the bottle. The open mouth of the bottle is fitted with a resilient plastic fitment which is permanently attached on the open rim and includes an outwardly directed flange underlying the flange of the stopper. The outside diameter of the outwardly directed flange of the plastic fitment is selected to match the outside diameter of the flange on the stopper. Thus, the outwardly directed flange on the plastic fitment hinders access to the flange on the stopper, thereby preventing removal of the stopper from the bottle. In order to remove the closure and open the bottle, an upward pressure must be applied to the outwardly directed flange on the plastic fitment to thereby deflect the flange on the stopper upwardly. Once the stopper flange has been deflected upwardly, it is possible to grasp it separately from the flange on the fitment to thereby facilitate the withdrawal of the stopper from the bottle. Other objects, features, and advantages will become obvious to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following detailed description of the invention and the drawing illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view with parts broken away in section of the unique child-resistant, stopper-type closure of this invention as applied to a bottle.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the plastic fitment of the closure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the plastic fitment of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows a unique child-resistant, stopper-type closure, generally indicated by the numeral 10, which incorporates the features of this invention and is applied to a bottle 12. The bottle 12 may be of any suitable type formed from glass or plastic having a body 14, a neck 16, and a finish 18.

The finish 18 includes an interior surface or corkage 20, an annular rim 22 forming its upper surface, and an annular retaining lug or protuberance 24 formed around the outer edge of the rim 22.

The child-resistant closure 10 of this invention is comprised of two separate parts, namely, a plastic stopper 26 (shown in FIG. 1) and an annular plastic fitment 28 (shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3). The plastic stopper 26 incorporates a head portion 30 which terminates at its outer radial extremity in an enlarged flange portion 32 which extends beyond the outer diameter of the rim portion 22 of the bottle finish 18. The stopper 26 also includes an annular plug portion 34 which is adapted to be inserted into the bottle 12 and fit snugly against the interior surface or corkage 20 of the bottle finish 18. Thus,the stopper 26 is similar to standard such stoppers or plugs with the exception that it incorporates the enlarged flange 32 which extends well beyond the outer diameter of the rim 22 on the bottle finish 18.

The plastic fitment 28 incorporates a flat annular head portion 36 and an annular skirt 38 depending downwardly therefrom. The annular head portion 36 incorporates an aperture 40 in the middle thereof which is adapted to allow passage of the plug portion 34 of the stopper 26 therethrough. The annular head portion 36 of the fitment 28 terminates at its outer extremity in a fitment flange portion 42 which has an outside diameter identical with the enlarged flange 32 on the stopper 26. The depending annular skirt 38 on the fitment 28 incorporates an annular retaining bead 44 which is adapted to snap under and is retained by the lug or protuberance 24 on the bottle finish 18.

Thus, as can be seen in FIG. 1, the fitment 28 is placed over the bottle finish l8 and pressed .downwardly until the lower surface of the head portion 36 rests on the rim l8 and the fitment retaining bead 44 snaps under the lug 24 on the bottle finish 18. The fitment 28 is thereby permanently attached to the bottle 14 and is not removed therefrom during insertion and removal of the stopper portion 26. Once the fitment 28 has been attached to the bottle 12 as previously described, the stopper 26 may be easily inserted into the bottle 12 with its plug portion 34 passing through the aperture 40 in the fitment into engagement with the interior sealing surface or corkage 20 of the bottle finish 18. When the stopper is fully inserted, the under surface of the enlarged flange 32 on the stopper will rest on the upper surface of the, head 36 of the fitment 28. Since, as previously described, the outside diameters of the enlarged flange 32 on the stopper 26 and the retaining flange 42 on the fitment 28 are identical, the two flange portions assume the coinciding adjacent relationship shown in FIG. 1.

The unique closure 10 as shown in FIG. 1 becomes virtually child resistant as will be understood from the following discussion. As the combined

flanges

32 and 42 are grasped in an attempt to remove the stopper 26 from the bottle 12, this movement is made impossible by the fact that the fitment 28 is permanently attached to the bottle finish 18. Thus, the fitment 28 serves as a guard for the stopper 26 and prevents withdrawal of the stopper from the bottle when the

flange portions

32 and 42 are grasped and attempted to be removed together.

In order to remove the stopper 26 from the bottle 12, the user must apply sufiicient pressure to the bottom side of the fitment flange 42 to cause the stopper flange 32 to deflect upwardly and lift the stopper 26 slightly. Once the stopper flange 32 has been deflected upwardly out of engagement with the fitment flange 42, the stopper flange 32 may be grasped separately from the fitment flange and with suitable adult finger pressure the stopper 26 may be removed from the bottle 12.

It should be understood that the upper surface of head 36 of the fitment 28 may be irregular so that a slight gap exists between fitment flange 42 and stopper flange 32 to allow separate removal of stopper 26 by careful insertion of a fingernail into the gap formed between the flanges. Additionally, the fitment flange 42 may have a portion removed to give direct access to the bottom of stopper flange 32 for separate upward movement of stopper 26. Neither of these adaptations would affect the child-resistance properties of the closure which prevents direct grasping and removal of the closure.

Thus, it should be apparent from the above description that the utilization of an enlarged flange portion on the stopper and the unique fitment which is permanently attached to the bottle finish results in a stopper-type closure which is virtually child resistant. Since there are many applications where a stopper-type closure is felt to be more desirable than a screw-on or snap-on type closure, this invention extends the use of a child-resistant or safety type closure to these applications.

I claim:

1. A child resistant closure adapted to sealingly close a rigid container having a neck portion with an annular protuberance on its external surface and terminating at its end in an annular rim defining the periphery of an open mouth, said closure comprising, in combination:

a resilient annular fitment including a top panel having a central portion removed therefrom to form an aperture, said top panel terminating at its outer extremity in a fitment flange, an annular depending skirt formed integrally with said top panel, said depending skirt of said fitment including an annular retaining bead on its interior surface adapted to be engaged by said protuberance on the neck portion of said container to hold said fitment in engagement with said container;

a stopper member including a head portion terminating at its outer extremity in a stopper flange, and a plug portion depending from said head portion and adapted to be inserted into the mouth of said container through said aperture in said fitment top panel so as to be in sealing engagement with the interior surface of said neck;

and said fitment flange and said stopper flange being in substantially face-to-face juxtaposed relationship upon insertion of said stopper member into the mouth of said container through the aperture in said fitment top panel.

2. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said fitment flange and said stopper flange are of substantially the same size and shape.

3. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said fitment flange and said stopper flange are each circular in shape and equal in diameter.

4. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the upper surface of said fitment flange and the lower surface of said stopper flange are each flat so as to facilitate close face-to-face contact between said fitment flange and said stopper flange upon insertion of said stopper member into said mouth through said aperture in said fitment top panel.

5. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 1 wherein a portion of the outer extremity of said fitment flange is removed, thereby providing direct access to the lower surface of said stopper flange.

6. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the upper surface of said fitment flange is irregular to provide a gap between said fitment flange and said stopper flange upon insertion of said stopper flange into said mouth through said aperture in said fitment top panel.

7. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim I wherein said container mouth, said removed central portion in said fitment, and said plug portion of said stopper member each have substantially the same diameter.

8. As an article of manufacture, an improved childresistant package comprising, in combination:

a rigid container having a neck portion with an annular protuberance on its external surface and terminating at its end in an annular rim defining the periphery of an open mouth;

and a closure including a resilient annular fitment including a top panel having a central portion removed therefrom to form an aperture, said top panel terminating at its outer extremity in a fitment flange, an annular depending skirt formed integrally with said top panel, said depending skirt of said fitment including an annular retaining bead on its interior surface adapted to be engaged by said protuberance on the neck portion of said container to hold said fitment in engagement with said container;

a stopper member including a head portion termin ating at its outer extremity in a stopper flange, and a plug portion depending from said head portion and adapted to be inserted into the mouth of said container through said aperture in said fitment top panel so as to be in sealing engagement with the interior surface of said neck;

9. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 8 wherein said fitment flange and said stopper flange are of substantially the same size and shape.

10. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 8 wherein said fitment flange and said stopper flange are each circular in shape and equal in diameter.

11. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 8 wherein the upper surface of said fitment flange and the lower surface of said stopper flange are each flat so as to facilitate close face-to-face contact between said fitment flange and said stopper flange upon insertion of said stopper member into said mouth through said aperture in said fitment top panel.

flange into said mouth through said aperture in said fitment top panel.

14. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 8 wherein said container mouth, said removed central portion in said fitment, and said plug portion of said stopper member each have substantially the same diameter.

P040150 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent N 3,690,498 b t d September 12, 1972 Inventor(s) Paul W. Harbauer It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the heading, insert Assignee Owens-Illinois, Inc.

Signed and sealed this 3rd day of April 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents

Claims

1. A child resistant closure adapted to sealingly close a rigid container having a neck portion with an annular protuberance on its external surface and terminating at its end in an annular rim defining the periphery of an open mouth, said closure comprising, in combination: a resilient annular fitment including a top panel having a central portion removed therefrom to form an aperture, said top panel terminating at its outer extremity in a fitment flange, an annular depending skirt formed integrally with said top panel, said depending skirt of said fitment including an annular retaining bead on its interior surface adapted to be engaged by said protuberance on the neck portion of said container to hold said fitment in engagement with said container; a stopper member including a head portion terminating at its outer extremity in a stopper flange, and a plug portion depending from said head portion and adapted to be inserted into the mouth of said container through said aperture in said fitment top panel so as to be in sealing engagement with the interior surface of said neck; and said fitment flange and said stopper flange being in substantially face-to-face juxtaposed relationship upon insertion of said stopper member into the mouth of said container through the aperture in said fitment top panel.

7. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said container mouth, said removed central portion in said fitment, and said plug portion of said stopper member each have substantially the same diameter.

8. As an article of manufacture, an improved child-resistant package comprising, in combination: a rigid container having a neck portion with an annular protuberance on itS external surface and terminating at its end in an annular rim defining the periphery of an open mouth; and a closure including a resilient annular fitment including a top panel having a central portion removed therefrom to form an aperture, said top panel terminating at its outer extremity in a fitment flange, an annular depending skirt formed integrally with said top panel, said depending skirt of said fitment including an annular retaining bead on its interior surface adapted to be engaged by said protuberance on the neck portion of said container to hold said fitment in engagement with said container; a stopper member including a head portion terminating at its outer extremity in a stopper flange, and a plug portion depending from said head portion and adapted to be inserted into the mouth of said container through said aperture in said fitment top panel so as to be in sealing engagement with the interior surface of said neck; and said fitment flange and said stopper flange being in substantially face-to-face juxtaposed relationship upon insertion of said stopper member into the mouth of said container through the aperture in said fitment top panel.

12. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 8 wherein a portion of the outer extremity of said fitment flange is removed, thereby providing direct access to the lower surface of said stopper flange.

13. A child-resistant closure as set forth in claim 8 wherein the upper surface of said fitment flange is irregular to provide a gap between said fitment flange and said stopper flange upon insertion of said stopper flange into said mouth through said aperture in said fitment top panel.