Safety closure for medicine bottles and the like

• US 4,007,850 A
• Filed: 12/04/1975
• Issued: 02/15/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Eugene L. Beaugrand
• Original Assignee: Eugene L. Beaugrand
• Inventors: Beaugrand, Eugene L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hall, George T.
• Application Number:
  US05/637,803
• Time in Patent Office: 439 Days
• Field of Search: 215/9, 215/216, 215/217, 215/218, 215/221
• US Class Current: 215/216
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 50/046 and such deformation causes the disengagement of locking means, e.g. the release of a pawl-like element from a tooth or abutment, to allow removal of the closure by simultaneous rotation

Abstract

A safety closure for a container which makes difficult, if not impossible, access to the container contents by a child. A continuous helical thread on a container neck in which thread are formed a plurality of teeth each of which defines an abutment surface transverse to the thread. A cap interiorly threaded for engagement on the neck thread, the cap having adjacent the lower extremity thereof a pawl that engages the abutment on one of the teeth thereby preventing rotation and removal of the cap. The pawl is secured to the cap for resilient movement relative thereto and has a fingernail groove to enable adults to move the pawl out of engagement with the tooth abutments on the container neck.

Claims

1. A safety closure for a container of the type that includes a generally cylindrical neck having a proximate end integral with the container and a distal end defining a mouth opening for communicating with the interior of the container comprising a helical thread formed on said neck and projecting therefrom and having a plurality of convolutions of uniform profile intermediate said distal end and said proximate end, said thread having a plurality of teeth formed therein throughout the length thereof, said teeth each defining an abutment residing wholly within the profile and extending transverse to the thread and facing in a direction toward said proximate end, a cap having a cylindrical body and an end plate spanning one end of said cylindrical body, said cylindrical body defining interior thereof a helical thread groove complementally engageable with the thread on said neck, a pawl secured to said cylindrical body adjacent the end thereof remote from said end plate, said pawl having a radially extending tooth surface radially movable into said groove for engagement with the abutments on said neck thread to prevent rotation of said cap toward the distal end, means for radially resiliently biasing said pawl relative to said cylindrical body and into said groove for engagement with said abutments, and means affording a grip on said pawl for moving said pawl radially outward against said biasing means to effect disengagement between said pawl and said abutments to permit substantially unimpeded removal of said cap from said neck.

2. A safety closure according to claim 1 wherein said teeth are positioned at uniform angular intervals throughout said neck thread, said angular interval being unequal to an integral sub-multiple of 360°

so that said teeth are staggered with respect to a direction axially of said neck.

3. A safety closure according to claim 2 wherein said angular interval is in the range of about 40°

- 90° and

is unequal to an integral sub-multiple of 360°

.

4. A safety closure according to claim 1 wherein said grip affording means comprises a portion of said pawl extending radially outward thereof and having a radially extending surface, said radially extending surface defining a small groove for affording engagement therein of a fingernail to apply outward force to said pawl.

5. A safety closure according to claim 1 wherein said thread has an inner abutment at the proximate extremity of said thread, the axial dimension from said cap end plate to said pawl being equal to or greater than the axial distance from said inner abutment to said distal end so that when said end plate is engaged in spanning relation to said mouth, said pawl is disposed inward of said inner abutment.

6. A safety closure according to claim 1 wherein said cap and said pawl are integrally molded of resilient plastic or the like and wherein said resilient biasing means includes a circumferential slit in said cap adjacent said pawl, a region of said pawl adjacent said slit constituting said pawl biasing means.