Package

• US 4,813,564 A
• Filed: 02/25/1988
• Issued: 03/21/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Paramount Global (f/k/a ViacomCBS Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Paramount Global (f/k/a ViacomCBS Inc.))
• Inventors: Petrosky, Lyman J., Cooper, Martin H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Norton, Donald F.
• Application Number:
  US07/160,438
• Time in Patent Office: 390 Days
• Field of Search: 215/366, 215/250, 215/252, 215/230, 229/102, 220/214, 206/459, 206/807, 340/572, 340/550, 340/562, 340/541, 336/200
• US Class Current: 215/366
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 5/4291 Containers provided with an acoustic device, e.g. for indicating opening of the package
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 55/028 initial opening or unauthorised access being indicated by the presence or absence of an audible or electrical signal
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 206/807 Tamper proof

Abstract

The package includes a body and a closure. A readily breakable electrical oscillatory network sans power supply is physically connected between the body and the closure. The network is tuned to resonate at a predetermined frequency. The package is monitored by a transmitter-receiver when it is distributed to a customer. The transmitter produces pulse signals in a carrier frequency band which overlaps the resonant frequency of the network. During monitoring the package is placed in the field of the transmitter and the oscillatory network is excited to produce a decaying pulse for each transmitter pulse. The receiver is gated during the interval when each transmitter pulse is generated but is receptive of the corresponding decaying pulse from the network. If the package is sealed, the oscillatory network is intact and the receiver receives decaying pulses which produce visual or audible signals. If the package has been opened, the network is broken and no signals are produced.

Claims

1. A closed container including a body and a closure for closing said body, at least one electrical oscillatory network having no power supply including a capacitor and an inductor, and means connecting said network at one region thereof to the internal surface of said closure and at another region thereof to said body so that when said container is opened by removal of said closure from said body said network is broken.

2. The closed container of claim 1 wherein the container is a bottle having a body sealed by a cap and the oscillatory network is connected to the cap in one region thereof and to the body in another region thereof.

3. The closed container of claim 1 wherein the container is a package having closures at each end including associated overlapping flaps including an outer flap and an inner flap having abutting surfaces when the container is closed, said container including a pair of electrical oscillatory networks, each including a capacitor and an inductor, and, means connecting one network to the abutting surfaces of the associated overlapping flaps at one end and the other network to the abutting surfaces of the associated flap at the other end so that on the opening of the outer flap at either end the network is broken.

4. A container having a body having an opening and a cap closing said opening, a film of electrically insulating material connected to said opening to seal said opening under said cap, an electrical oscillatory network including a capacitor and an inductor secured to the outer surface of said film, and means connecting said network to the inner surface of said cap so that on the removal of said cap from said body said network is broken.

5. A container having at each of the opposite ends thereof inner and outer flaps for closing said container, first and second electrically oscillatory networks, each network including a film of electrically insulating material having secured thereto a capacitor and an inductor, means securing said film of said first network to one of a first pair of sufaces consisting of the inner surface of said outer flap and the outer surface of said inner flap at one of said opposite ends, means connecting said first network to the other of said first pair of surfaces, and means securing said film of said second network to one of a second pair of surfaces consisting of the inner surface of the outer flap and the outer surface of the inner flap at the other of said opposite ends, and means connecting said second network to the other of said second pair of surfaces.

6. The container of claim 5 wherein the first and second oscillatory networks are tuned to distinguishably different frequencies.

7. A method for electrically determining if a package, having a closure and a body closed by said closure, has been previously undesirably opened;

comprising;

producing a readily breakable electrical oscillatory network sans power supply, said network having a predetermined resonant frequency, securing said oscillatory network between said body and said closure in such manner that opening of said closure breaks said network, generating a signal having a frequency band overlapping the resonant frequency of said network, positioning said package including said network in the field of said generated signal so that said network if intact is set into oscillation by said signal, and monitoring the field of said oscillation to determine if said network is in oscillation thereby to determine if said package has been opened.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the electrically oscillatory network includes an inductor and a capacitor and in producing the electrical oscillatory network said inductor is formed by bowing a wire into a single-turn coil with the outer end and the inner end of the wire overlapping over a predetermined angle, and insulated from each other, said inner and outer overlapping ends forming said capacitor.

9. The method of claim 7 including the step of mounting the electrical oscillatory network on a thin film of electrically insulating material, sealing the container with said film and connecting the network to the closure whereby the network is broken when the closure is opened and the film is penetrated.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the electrical oscillatory network is connected between the closure and the body so that when the closure is opened the network is broken.

11. A method of providing a package having a body having an opening and a closure for closing said opening with means for determining if said package has been undesirably opened, the said method comprising printing an electrical oscillatory network on a film of insulating material, sealing said opening with said film, depositing a dab of uncured adhesive in contact with said network, closing said opening with said closure so that said dab is adhered to the inner surface of said closure, and permitting said adhesive to be cured whereby when said closure is undesirably removed said dab and a portion of said network adhered thereto are removed and said network is broken.