A child resistant cap including relatively thin threads which, when the cap is in a relaxed condition, are spaced from the bottle neck, said spacing permitting the cap to be squeezed inward at points on opposite sides of the cap so that the cap responds to the squeezing by expanding outward at points ninety degrees from the squeezing points so that stops on the cap at the cap expanding location will miss the stops normally engaged when in a relaxed condition, thereby permitting the cap to be removed from the bottle. The cap may also include a guide ring in the cap interior to guide the cap over the bottle neck to help ensure that the cap is centered on the bottle opening. The cap may include pressure pads on the cap skirt outside near the cap bottom showing the user where to press and stiffening the portion of the cap where pressure is to be applied. And, the cap may include a tamper indicating ring which will separate from the cap the first time the cap is removed from the bottle. Furthermore, in an alternative cap and bottle combination, an imaginary line connecting the cap threads and an imaginary line defined by the bottle neck will intersect at an angle of from one to eight degrees, thereby providing an increasing gap between the cap threads and the bottle neck as one gets further from the cap top, this angle creating non-vertical changes to the cap or the bottle or both.
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16. A child resistant cap and bottle combination, comprising:
a. a bottle having a neck portion and an adjacent opening, said neck portion having an exterior bottle thread for receiving a cap thread, said bottle thread having an outermost extent and a first imaginary line connecting said outermost extent extending substantially parallel to said bottle neck portion; b. a cap having: (1) a cap top; (2) a cap skirt having an inner surface and extending from said cap top to a cap bottom; and (3) said cap skirt inner surface having a threaded portion therein; said threaded portion having at least one cap thread, said at least one cap thread having an innermost extent, said threaded portion having a second imaginary line connecting said innermost extent extending substantially perpendicular to said cap top, said first imaginary line and said second imaginary line having an intersection angle therebetween of at least one degree; and, c. said cap and said bottle having engageable means for preventing said cap from being removed from said bottle when said cap is in a relaxed condition, said cap thread innermost extent being in spaced relation with said bottle neck portion and said bottle thread outermost extent being in spaced relation with said inner surface of said cap skirt, said spaced relation between said outermost extent of said bottle thread increasing from top to bottom of said inner surface of said cap skirt in said relaxed condition.
1. A child resistant cap and bottle combination comprising:
a bottle having a neck portion and an adjacent opening, the neck portion having at least a first bottle lug extending outward therefrom, the neck portion having an interior exterior bottle thread for receiving a cap thread, the bottle thread being positioned at a location nearer the adjacent opening than the bottle lug; the cap comprising: a. a cap top having a first diameter; b. a cap skirt having an inner surface and extending from said cap top to a cap bottom, said cap bottom having a second diameter greater than said cap top first diameter; c. said cap skirt inner surface having a threaded portion therein, said threaded portion being located toward said cap top, said threaded portion having at least one cap thread, said cap inner surface having at least a first cap lug, said cap lug being located toward said cap bottom; d. said cap being received on the bottle, said at least one cap thread being received by the bottle thread, the first bottle lug and the first cap lug engagably preventing said cap from being removed from the bottle when said cap is in a relaxed condition, said at least one cap thread having an innermost extent in spaced relation with the bottle neck portion, said bottle thread having an outermost extent in spaced relation with said cap skirt, said spaced relation between said outermost extent of said bottle thread increasing from top to bottom of said inner surface of said cap skirt in said relaxed condition, said cap being removable from the bottle by applying pressure to said cap skirt at opposed pressure locations approximately transverse to said cap lug whereby said at least one cap thread moves toward the bottle neck portion at said opposed pressure locations thereby reducing said spacing, said cap thread thereby moving away from the bottle neck portion at said cap lug thereby enlarging said spacing, thereby spacing said cap lug from the bottle lug. 2. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
3. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
4. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
5. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
6. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
7. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
8. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
9. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
10. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
11. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
14. The combination of
15. The combination of
17. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
18. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
19. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
20. The child resistant cap and bottle combination of
21. The combination of
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a child resistant cap. The cap includes relatively thin threads which, when the cap is in a relaxed condition, are spaced from the bottle neck. This spacing permits the cap to be squeezed inward at points on opposite sides of the cap so that the cap responds to the squeezing by expanding outward at points ninety degrees from the squeezing points so that a lug on the cap at one or both of the cap expanding locations will miss the corresponding lug(s) normally engaged when in a relaxed condition, thereby permitting the cap to be removed from the bottle.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Caps, including child resistant caps, are known which taper outward from the top of the cap to the bottom of the cap, that is, caps which have the exterior geometric shape of the frustrum of a right circular cone. However, none of the known caps include inner cap threads which are relatively thin and which, when received on the bottle in a relaxed condition, provide for gaps between the threads and the bottle neck.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,060 teaches a container closure, sloping outward from cap top to cap bottom, wherein the inner cap threads engage the bottle neck thread receiving grooves with only a non-functional gap therebetween. In molding caps, the threads typically have a draft of ¼°C to ½°C to permit easier removal of the tool forming the threads. That is, a line perpendicular to the cap top and a line touching the ends of the threads will have an angle of ¼°C to ½°C therebetween. Any gap left between the cap threads and the bottle neck because of molding with the draft of ¼°C to ½°C is a non-functional gap as related to the present invention, which involves a functional gap.
The present invention relates to a child resistant cap. The cap includes relatively thin threads which, when the cap is in a relaxed condition, are spaced from the bottle neck. This spacing permits the cap to be squeezed inward at points on opposite sides of the cap so that the cap responds to the squeezing by expanding outward at points ninety degrees from the squeezing points so that a lug on the cap at one or both of the cap expanding locations will miss the corresponding lug(s) normally engaged when in a relaxed condition, thereby permitting the cap to be removed from the bottle.
More particularly, the present invention comprises a child resistant cap for a bottle, the bottle having a neck portion and an adjacent opening, the neck portion having at least a first bottle lug extending outward therefrom, the neck portion having means for receiving a cap thread, the cap thread receiving means being positioned at a location nearer the adjacent opening than the bottle lug; the cap comprising: a cap top having a first diameter; a cap skirt extending from the cap top to a cap bottom; a cap interior portion, the interior portion having a threaded portion therein, the threaded portion being located toward the cap top; the threaded portion having at least one cap thread; the cap interior portion having at least a first cap lug, the cap lug being located toward the cap bottom; the cap being received on the bottle, the at least one cap thread being received by the cap thread receiving means; the first bottle lug and the first cap lug engagably preventing the cap from being removed from the bottle when the cap is in a relaxed condition, the at least one cap thread and the bottle neck portion having a gap therebetween, the gap having a first spacing; and, the cap being removed from the bottle by applying a pressure to the cap skirt at opposed pressure locations approximately transverse to the cap lug; the at least one cap thread thereby moving toward the bottle neck portion at the opposed pressure locations thereby reducing the first spacing, the cap threads thereby moving away from the bottle neck portion at the cap lug thereby enlarging the first spacing, thereby spacing the cap lug from the bottle lug permitting the cap to be removed from the bottle.
Further, the cap of the present invention can include a guide ring in the cap interior to guide the cap over the bottle neck to help ensure a proper fit. In the preferred embodiment, the bottom of the cap skirt has a second diameter greater than the cap top first diameter. However, with a guide ring, the cap can have approximately first and second diameters, so long as there is a sufficient spacing between the cap threads and the bottle neck to permit the cap to be squeezed and removed.
Also, the cap can include pressure pads on the cap skirt outside near the cap bottom showing the user where to press and stiffening the portion of the cap where pressure is to be applied. Finally, the cap can include a tamper indicating ring which will separate from the cap the first time the cap is removed from the bottle.
In an alternative cap and bottle combination, an imaginary line connecting the cap threads and an imaginary line defined by the bottle neck will intersect at an angle from one to eight degrees, thereby providing an increasing gap between the cap threads and the bottle neck as one gets further from the cap top. This angle can be created by non-vertical changes to the cap or the bottle or both.
A better understanding of the invention will be had upon reference to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals refer to like parts and wherein:
With reference to
Bottle 2 includes a neck portion 3 having an adjacent opening 5 therein. Bottle threads 4, shown, for example, as a single helix, are on the upper portion of neck portion 3. Bottle threads 4 are spiral shaped and circumscribe bottle 2 at least completely and, more typically, make at least two circumscriptions of bottle 2. Other thread configurations are known in this industry and could be employed with the instant invention. For example, a double helix (or double start threads) could be employed where a pair of threads are used starting on opposite sides of the bottle. Between bottle threads 4 is the thread receiving grooves 6 which will receive the cap threads 34. Cap threads 34 engage the bottom side of bottle threads 4. The cap and bottle would employ matching thread configurations, single helix, double helix, or other.
Bottle 2 has a horizontal ring 8 therearound. Ring 8 has opposed bottle ring lugs 10 extending outward therefrom which will engage opposed cap lugs 40 to make the cap resistant to removal from the bottle.
Cap 20 has a top 22 and a cap skirt 30 tapering outward from the top 22 of the cap to the bottom 32 of the cap, that is, cap 20 has the geometric shape of the frustrum of a right circular cone. Cap top 22 has a top diameter of d1 and cap bottom 32 has a diameter of d2, with d2>d1.
Looking into the inside cap 20, a seal 24 is attached within the cap 20 adjacent cap top 22. Toward cap top 22 are relatively thin threads 34, for example having a thread width of approximately 0.030 inch (0.076 cm). This thread "thinness" minimizes the stiffening effect of the threads 34 on the flexibility of the cap skirt 30, permitting the cap to more readily deform when pressure is applied thereto, as is explained hereinafter.
Preferably, threads 34 extend from the cap skirt 30 such that they are parallel two cap top 22. However, threads 34 may be angled with respect to top 22. In fact, threads 34 could extend transverse to skirt 30. The width of threads 34 is less than the width of mating bottle groove 6, preferably less than one-half the width. As one goes from the portion of the threads 34 toward the top 22 toward the cap bottom 32, the threads may become longer, that is, may extend further from cap skirt 30. With the outward taper of the cap skirt 30, this would help the threads 34 engage the mating bottle groove 6. However, as shown, threads 34 are of uniform length.
With this cap 20, a line perpendicular to the cap top 22 and a line touching the ends of the threads 34 will have an angle of at least 1°C therebetween. This angle can be as much as 8°C, but I believe that about 3½°C is an optimum angle. Some geometric presentations of various threads, skirts, and bottle neck configurations are shown in
When cap 20 is received on bottle 2, there is a functional gap between the ends of the threads 34 and the neck 3 of bottle 2. As seen in
Lugs 10/40 can be of a variety of configuration. As shown, they extend outward from bottle neck 3 and inward from cap skirt 30. However, they can be non-radial and extend from bottle neck 3 and cap skirt 30 away from the direction of rotation, typically clockwise, to put the cap 20 on the bottle 2. This makes it easier to put the cap 20 on the bottle 2, as, when they engage, the lugs 10/40 are eased toward the cap and the bottle, or make it easy for the cap to deform permitting lugs 40 to pass over lugs 10, when placing the cap on the bottle; and, without proper pressure on the cap 20, the lugs 10/40 try to interlock when trying to remove the cap from the bottle.
With reference to the first alternative embodiment of
With reference to the second alternative embodiment of
With reference to the third alternative embodiment of
As a further alternative, the present invention can be implemented by having known threads in the cap, that is threads with a draft angle of ¼°C to ½°C and having the bottle neck or bottle threads have an outward slope angle as you near the opening of 1°C to 8°C to create the desired functional gap between the cap threads and the bottle. Or, a combination of cap thread angle and bottle outward slope summing to 1°C to 8°C may be employed. With this combination, neither the cap threads or the bottle neck is "vertical".
Examples of this are shown in
In
Even further, an additional embodiment is shown in
Cap 260 can be removed from bottle 2 in the same manner as with the earlier cap embodiments. As seen in
The foregoing detailed description is given primarily for clearness of understanding and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom for modifications will become obvious to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure and may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.
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