CHILD RESISTANT CONTAINER

• US 20120260612A1
• Filed: 04/15/2011
• Published: 10/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: J L Clarke Incorporated
• Original Assignee: J.L. CLARK, INC. (Henry Crown & Co.)
• Inventors: Cronin, Edward P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,616,376 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 53/492
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2215/04 requiring the combination of different actions in succession
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 83/04 for dispensing annular, disc-shaped, or spherical or like small articles, e.g. tablets or pills

Abstract

A container of opening a container is provided. The container includes an outer shell slidably carrying a dispensing cartridge between open and closed states. A cooperating catch arrangement is operably interposed between the outer shell and the dispensing cartridge. The cooperating catch arrangement has a locked state that fixes the dispensing cartridge in the closed state relative to the outer shell and an unlocked state in which the dispensing cartridge is permitted to slide relative to the outer shell from the closed state to the open state. The cooperating catch arrangement is operable to be transitioned from the locked state to the unlocked state by resiliently reducing a width of the outer shell along a compression axis which resiliently expands a thickness of the outer shell along an expansion axis to disengage cooperating catch arrangement. A method of opening includes compressing the outer shell to disengage the cooperating catch arrangement.

Claims

1. A container comprising:

an outer shell defining an opening;

a dispensing cartridge defining a storage cavity and an access opening to the storage cavity, the dispensing cartridge slidable within the outer shell between a closed state in which the access opening is closed by the outer shell prohibiting access to the storage cavity and an open state in which the access opening is open such that access to the storage cavity through the opening is permitted;

a cooperating catch arrangement between the outer shell and the dispensing cartridge having a locked state that fixes the dispensing cartridge in the closed state relative to the outer shell and an unlocked state in which the dispensing cartridge is permitted to slide relative to the outer shell from the closed state to the open state; and

the cooperating catch arrangement transitionable from the locked state to the unlocked state by resiliently reducing a width of the outer shell along a compression axis to resiliently expand a thickness of the outer shell along an expansion axis to disengage cooperating catch arrangement.

2. The container of claim 1, wherein the outer shell has opposed side portions, each opposed side portion having a curved portion that bows outward and away from the other side in a relaxed state.

3. The container of claim 1, wherein the outer shell has opposed side portions that are formed between opposed edge portions, the width being defined between the opposed edges, each side portion having a curved portion extending outward and away from the other one of the opposed sides.

4. The container of claim 1, wherein the outer shell has a pair of convex sidewall portions that generally define the width.

5. The container of claim 4, wherein the sidewall portions extend between opposed edge portions of the outer shell, the convex sidewall portions bowing outward and away from one another such that the thickness of the outer shell at the edge portions is less than the thickness of the outer shell between and spaced from the edge portions.

6. The container of claim 1, further comprising a stop arrangement between the outer shell and the dispensing cartridge, the stop arrangement limiting the amount of relative sliding travel between the outer shell and the dispensing cartridge such that the dispensing cartridge is inhibited from being fully removed from the outer shell during normal operation.

7. The container of claim 6, wherein the stop arrangement includes a channel having an abutment end and an abutment projection positioned within the channel, the abutment projection axially abutting the abutment end at an end of the relative sliding travel inhibiting removal of the dispensing cartridge from the outer shell.

8. The container of claim 1, further comprising a stop arrangement formed between the outer shell and the dispensing cartridge, the stop arrangement including first and second abutments, the first and second abutments axially abutting to limit the amount of relative sliding travel between the outer shell and the storage compartment to inhibit removal of the dispensing cartridge from the outer shell during normal operation.

9. The container of claim 6, wherein the stop arrangement including first and second abutments, the first and second abutments axially abutting to limit the amount of relative sliding travel between the outer shell and the storage compartment to inhibit removal of the dispensing cartridge from the outer shell during normal operation.

10. A container comprising:

an outer shell defining an opening;

a dispensing cartridge slidably carried within the outer shell between an open position in which access is permitted to a storage region of the container and a closed position in which access is prevented to the storage region by the outer shell;

a cooperating catch arrangement between the outer shell and the dispensing cartridge having a locked state that fixes the dispensing cartridge relative to the outer shell in the closed position and an unlocked state in which the dispensing cartridge is permitted to slide relative to the outer shell from the closed position to the open position; and

the outer shell being resiliently compressible along a compression axis in such a manner that at least one side portion of the outer shell resiliently flexes along an expansion axis to transition the cooperating catch arrangement from the locked state to the unlocked state.

11. The container of claim 10, wherein the compression axis is generally perpendicular to the expansion axis.

12. The container of claim 10, wherein an outer surface of the at least one side portion is generally convex when the outer shell is in a relaxed state, the convex shape directs the flexing of the at least one side portion outward along the expansion axis of the at least one side portion when the outer shell is resiliently compressed along the compression axis.

13. The container of claim 12, wherein the compression axis is generally parallel to a width of outer shell and the expansion axis is generally parallel to a thickness of the outer shell, wherein the width of the outer shell is greater than thickness of the outer shell proximate the cooperating catch arrangement.

14. The container of claim 13, wherein the outer shell has opposed edges between which the width of the outer shell is defined.

15. The container of claim 10, wherein the at least one side portion includes first and second opposed side portions, the first and second side portions being convex side portions.

16. A method of opening a container comprising an outer shell and a dispensing cartridge carried within the outer shell comprising:

squeezing the outer shell along a compression axis to disengage a catch arrangement between the outer shell and the dispensing cartridge along an expansion axis that is non-parallel with the compression axis.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising axially pulling the dispensing cartridge along a sliding axis that is non-parallel to the compression and expansion axes.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the compression, expansion and sliding axes extend at angles of between about 80 and 100 degrees relative to one another.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the compression, expansion and sliding axes are substantially perpendicular to one another.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising biasing the dispensing cartridge along a sliding axis that is non-parallel to the compression and expansion axes with a biasing mechanism.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising automatically translating the dispensing cartridge relative to the outer shell along the sliding axis upon disengagement of the catch arrangement due to the biasing of the biasing mechanism along the sliding axis.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising preventing the dispensing cartridge from being removed from the outer shell.