Senior friendly child resistant medication containers

A medication container has a tubular container body having an open upper end, and a cap detachably securable to the upper end of the container body by clockwise rotation relative thereto. The cap and the container body have mutually engageable stops preventing anti-clockwise opening rotation of the cap relative to the container body when the cap is in an upper position relative to the container body. A cap liner of resilient material is located within the cap and has a peripheral portion engageable with the upper end of the container body to close the upper end, the cap liner also having a central button portion projecting upwardly through a central aperture in the cap for manual engagement by a person wishing to open the container. The cap has a downward extending wall adjacent the aperture and engaged by the cap liner to maintain the cap in the upper position relative to the container body. Downward manual pressure on the central button portion of a cap liner causes resilient deformation of the cap liner away from the downwardly extending wall of the cap to permit the cap to be depressed from its upper position and thereby permit counter-clockwise opening rotation of the cap relative to the container body.

This invention relates to medication containers. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Medication containers with child resistant closures, i.e. which resist 
opening by children, are well known. However, the features which render a 
closure child resistant often cause closure to be difficult to open by 
seniors, i.e. older people, especially those with weak manual dexterity. 
It is also known to provide medication containers with mechanism operated 
by opening and/or closure to indicate the time the next dosage of 
medication is to be taken, such information being especially useful for 
seniors with failing memories as well as of course for others. 
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a medication 
container which is both senior friendly and child resistant, and which may 
also be provided with mechanism operated by opening and/or closure to 
indicate the next dosage time. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the invention, a medication container has a tubular container 
body having an open upper end, and a cap detachably securable to the upper 
end of the container body by clockwise rotation relative thereto. The cap 
and the container body have mutually engageable stops which prevent 
anti-clockwise opening rotation of the cap relative to the container body 
when the cap is in an upper position relative to the container body. A cap 
liner of resilient material is located within the cap and has a peripheral 
portion engageable with the upper end of the container body to close the 
upper end, the cap liner also having a central button portion projecting 
upwardly through a central aperture in the cap for manual engagement by a 
person wishing to open the container. The cap has a downwardly extending 
wall adjacent the aperture and engaged by the cap liner to maintain the 
cap in the upper position relative to the container body. Downward manual 
pressure on the central button portion of the cap liner causes resilient 
deformation of the cap liner away from the downwardly extending wall of 
the cap to permit the cap to be depressed from its upper position and 
thereby permit counter-clockwise opening rotation of the cap relative to 
the container body. 
Thus, when the container is closed, a child cannot simply rotate the cap in 
a counter-clockwise direction to open the container, but the central 
button portion of the cap liner can be depressed to enable the cap also to 
be depressed and subsequently rotated in an opening manner, thereby 
facilitating opening movement by people such as seniors with weak manual 
dexterity. 
The medication container may also include a disposal tubular body liner 
with a closed lower end and an open upper end located within the container 
body for containing medication, the body liner having a peripheral upper 
end portion urged against the container body by the cap liner to provide 
an airtight seal between the cap liner and the body liner. The container 
body may have an open lower end. 
The cap and the cap liner may have inter-engaging mechanism preventing 
relative rotational movement therebetween when the cap is rotated in one 
direction relative to the container body and permitting relative rotation 
therebetween when the cap is rotated in an opposite direction relative to 
the container body, the cap and the cap liner having indicia which 
indicates the next dosage time when the cap is rotated in said opposite 
direction.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to the drawings, a medication container has a tubular container 
body 12, a cap 14, a cap liner 16 and a body liner 18. The container body 
12 has an upper open end 20 with a peripheral outwardly extending flange 
22 and an upwardly extending wall 24 extending around the radially outer 
edge of the flange 22. The external surface of the wall 24 has a series of 
circumferentially spaced downwardly open recesses 26 each with an adjacent 
upwardly inclined ramp 28, with each ramp being followed by a space 29. 
The lower end 30 of the container body 12 is open. 
The cap 14 has a circular top portion 32 with a downwardly extending 
peripheral wall 34 having a series of inwardly projecting lugs 36 at its 
lower end equal in number to the number of recesses 26 in the exterior 
surface of the wall 24 at the upper end of the container body 12. The 
circular top portion 32 of the cap 14 also has a central aperture 38 and a 
downwardly extending inner wall 40 surrounding the aperture 38. The inner 
wall 40 has a series of circumferentially spaced vertical ribs 42 for a 
purpose to be described. 
The cap liner 16 is of resilient material and is located within the cap 14, 
the cap liner 16 having a peripheral portion 44 engaging the upper end of 
the wall 24 of the container body 12 to close the upper end thereof, and a 
central button portion 46 projecting upwardly through the central aperture 
38 in the cap 14. The button portion 46 has a series of ratchet teeth 48 
extending around the side thereof for a purpose to be described. The cap 
liner 16 also has a downwardly projecting annular rib 45 immediately 
radially inwardly of the peripheral portion 44 for a purpose to be 
described. 
The body liner 18 has a tubular body 50 which is a snug fit in the 
container body 12. The tubular body 50 has a closed lower end 52 and a 
peripheral outwardly extending flange 54 at its upper end 56. As clearly 
shown in FIG. 3, the flange 54 of the body liner 18 is sandwiched between 
the upper end of the container body 18 and the annular rib 45 of the cap 
liner 16. 
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a dosage indicator 58 is secured by adhesive to 
an upper surface of the button portion 46, and an indicator arrow 60 is 
marked on the top portion 32 of the cap 14 adjacent the central aperture 
38. 
FIGS. 3 and 5 show the medication container with the cap 14 and cap liner 
16 in the closed condition. As can be clearly seen from FIG. 3, the cap 
liner 16 is engaging the lower end of the inner wall 40 of cap 14 to 
maintain the cap 14 in an upper position relative to the container body 12 
with the lugs 36 on the cap 14 firmly engaged in the recesses 16 in the 
outer surface of the container body wall 24, thereby preventing the cap 14 
from being rotated relative to the container body in the anti-clockwise 
opening direction. Also, in this configuration, the annular rib 45 of the 
cap liner 16 is pressing firmly down on the annular flange 54 of the body 
liner 18, which is seated on the flange 22 of the container body 12, 
thereby forming an airtight seal between the cap liner 16 and the body 
liner 18. The peripheral portion 44 of the cap liner 16 is also firmly in 
engagement with the upper end of the wall 24 of the container body 12. 
Because of the resilience of the cap liner 16, and its tendency to deform 
uniformly only when pressure is applied directly to its centre, it is not 
easy for the cap 14 to be pushed down to release all the cap lugs 36 from 
the container body recess 26 at the same time, thereby rendering the 
container child resistant. However, it is possible for a person, for 
example a senior, to push down the central button portion 46 of the cap 
liner 16, thereby resiliently deforming the cap liner 16 at its centre and 
pushing it away uniformly from the lower end of the inner wall 40 of the 
cap 14, as shown in FIG. 4. The cap 14 may then move downwardly or can be 
easily pushed downwardly to move the cap lugs 36 out of the container body 
recesses 26. This permits counter-clockwise opening rotation of the cap 14 
until the cap lugs 36 have passed the container body ramps 28 and moved 
into the spaces 29, so that the cap 14 and the cap liner 16 can then be 
removed from the container body 12, with resultant access to medication in 
the body liner 18. 
During the opening movement, the downward manual pressure on the button 
portion 46 presses the cap liner 16 even more firmly against the container 
body wall 24 and the flange 54 of the body liner 18, with the result that 
the cap liner 16 does not rotate with the cap 14. The rotational movement 
necessary for the cap 12 to move from the closed position to the open 
position moves the indicating arrow 60 from one time to the next on the 
dosage indicator 60 
To close the container, the cap 14 and container cap liner 16 are 
repositioned on the top of the container body 12, and the cap 14 is 
rotated clockwise until the lugs 36 have become aligned with the spaces 29 
adjacent to the ramps 28 on the container body 12. Further cap rotation 
then causes the lugs 36 to travel along the ramps 28 and then become 
seated in the recesses 26, thereby closing the container. During this 
closing movement, the ribs 42 on the cap 14 engage the ratchet teeth 48 on 
the cap liner 16 to cause the cap liner 16 to rotate with the cap 14. 
The cap liner 16 and the body liner 18 can be discarded when all the 
prescribed medication in the container has been taken, and the cap 14 and 
container body 12 can be re-used with a new cap liner 16 and a new body 
liner 18. The cap liner 16 and body liner 18 can therefore be made of a 
suitable disposable plastic material, and the cap 14 and container body 12 
can be made of a more rigid plastic material so that they can be re-used 
many times. 
As shown in FIG. 7, the button portion 46 may be provided with a 
circumferential rib 62 which engages the cap 14 when the button portion 46 
is pushed downwardly to initiate opening movement and pushes the cap 14 
downwardly to move the cap lugs 36 out of the container body recesses 26. 
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 8, this may be achieved by providing the 
dosage indicator 58' with a disc-like plastic member of slightly larger 
diameter than the diameter of the button portion 46, so that the dosage 
indicator 58' has an outer circumferential projecting portion 64 which 
functions in the same manner as the circumferential rib 62 in FIG. 7. 
Other advantages and embodiments of the invention will be readily apparent 
to a person skilled in the art from the foregoing description of a 
preferred embodiment, the scope of the invention being defined in the 
appended claims.