SAFETY CLOSURE

Abstract: A safety closure, particularly safe in the hands of children, to safety close containers composed of an assembly of an inner cap (3) and an outer cap (2), the inner cap (3) provided with threading (9) for screwing onto the mouth of a container. The outer cap (2) can be depressed over the inner cap (3) against a resilient force provided by lips (12) coating with a conical surface. When depressed, teeth (16) on the outer cap (2) mesh with teeth (14) on the inner cap (3) to effect unscrewing of the closure. A ratchet provided by teeth (18) on the inner cap (3) cooperating with tangential protrusions (19) on the outer cap (2) enable onscrewing of the closure but prevent offscrewing. A guarantee seal (22, 23) may be provided, ruptured automati­ cally on depressing the outer cap (2), and also, if desired, on ro­ tation of the outer cap (2) in the offscrewing direction.

Description: The invention relates to a safety closure, particularly safe in the hands of children, to safely close containers, such a closure having the features of the preamble of claim 1. Such a closure is known from WO-A-82/04 029, Figures 4-7. This has the advantages that liquid penetrating from below between the caps cannot easily spoil the action of the resilient lips by drying up and forming tacky substances or crystals, as the lips are far away from the zone where this liquid might penetrate, that the lips in the depression allow for a considerable amount of depression before the outer cap can lock the inner cap to rotate therewith in the onscrewing direction and that the neck of the container can be clamped resiliently between the skirt and the outer wall of the depression of the inner cap, while the circumferential friction of the outer cap with the inner cap, when the outer cap is rotated, is low, so that no accidental loosening of the closure by rotation of the outer cap is possible. A disadvantage of these known closures is the requirement to press down the outer cap also when screwing the closure onto the container unless the outer cap is clamped inwardly radially onto the skirt of the inner cap for combined rotation or unless the inner cap is screwed onto the container separately, after which the outer cap is snapped over the inner cap, which is only feasible in a factory and not in household use. This known closure has a closing cover portion rupturably attached to the top surface of the outer cap, bridging the central opening therein, and ruptured at the first axial pressing down of the outer cap on the inner cap by the top of the cylindrical upstanding portion of the inner cap. If this cover portion is ruptured when depressing the outer cap onto the inner cap for screwing of the closure onto a container, it can no more be used for tamper evidence, which requires that the closure shows that it has been onscrewed from a container so that the contents thereof can have been tampered with. It is a first object of the invention to improve the prior closure as described before in such a manner as to avoid the necessity of providing instructions for onscrewing and to enable the user to easily onscrew without any special instructions or considerations, while maintaining the safety measure that for screwing off the outer cap has to be pressed down before screwing off is possible. A further object of the invention is to obtain this first object with a simple design of the closure while maintaining the above mentioned advantages of the said known closures. To obtain these objects a closure as given in the preamble is, according to the invention, characterized by the features given in the characteristic part of the enclosed claim 1. By this novel invented safety closure, the provision of the described additional teeth creates an interengagement even at no downward pressure on the outer cap and this ensures a more powerful cooperation between the inner and outer caps when screwing on and a warning by a rattling noise when rotating the outer cap in the direction of screwing off, so that it is easily recognized, that the outer cap should be pressed down for screwing off. It is remarked that US-A-3.912.101 shows a childproof closure having two sets of teeth and protrusions between the skirts of the inner and outer caps, so that the outer cap needs not be depressed axially for onscrewing. The further set of teeth and protrusions is vulnerable for liquid penetrating from below between the caps. There are no resilient lips acting axially as springs between inner and outer cap, but the top wall of the outer cap is thin and resilient flexibly to push the outer cap upwardly with respect to the inner cap. Moreover, from GB Patents 1,377,785 and 1,438,885, such safety closures are known, in which the resilient lips on the outer cap reach downwardly onto a substantially flat top surface of the inner cap, which is provided with upstanding teeth, so that the lower edges of the lips cooperate therewith to form a ratchet structure for the same purpose. The invention also proposes, as a preferred embodiment, to give the protrusions on the resilient lips about the same thickness as said lips at their connection thereto and to give the protrusions, as seen in a tangential direction, a gradually increasing thickness in radial directions of the closure from this connection to their free ends. Preferably, these protrusions have their upper edges at some distance below the lower surface of the top wall of the outer cap, to give them more flexibility and a more even flexibility along their height. The invention also relates to a particular embodiment of a rupturable cover portion on the outer cap, used for tamper evidence, to be described in detail below. It is remarked that such rupturable cover portions are known from GB-Patents 436,989 and 609,290, for closures in which there is no provision for depressing the outer cap for unscrewing the closure. Hereinafter, the invention is further elucidated by means of a preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic perspective view of an invented safety closure; Fig. 2 is a cross-section according to a vertical plane through line II-II of Fig. 1, showing the safety closure in a condition when no downward pressure is being exerted upon the outer cap; Fig. 3 is a similar cross-section of only the outer cap of this closure; Fig. 4 is a similar cross-section of only the inner cap according to the invention, with the top part in the center to the right of the axis being taken along part of a circle in Fig. 5; Fig. 5 is a top view of one-half of the inner cap according to Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is a bottom view of one-half of the outer cap of Fig. 3. From the figures of the drawing, the safety closure generally designated by reference numeral 1 in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 comprises a combined outer cap 2 and inner cap 3 loosely assembled as will be explained in detail hereinafter. The inner cap 3 and outer cap 2 are molded from suitable, safe for human use, plastic materials, in a manner known in the art. The outer cap 2 is provided with a top end wall portion 4 in which a central opening 5 is located. A cylindrical skirt portion 6 depends from the outer peripheral edge of the end wall portion 4. The inner cap 3 comprises a central cylindrical portion 7, closed at its top, and an external skirt portion 8, which is provided with integrally molded screw threads 9 to enable the closure to be mounted onto the mouth of a container having complementary screw threads, all as well known in the art. The external skirt portion 8 is integrally connected, by means of an intermediate wall portion 11 including a conical portion 10, with the cylindrical portion 7. The wall forming the opening 5 in top end wall portion 4 of outer cap 2 engages and is guided by the cylindrical portion 7 on the inner cap 3, when the outer cap 2 is pressed downwardly relative to inner cap 3. The end wall portion 4 of the outer cap 2 is provided with inwardly extending resilient or springy lips 12, at least two and preferably not more than four, which extend into the space created between the cylindrical portion 7 and the intermediate wall portion 11 of the inner cap 3. The lips 12 coact with and cooperate with the inner surface of conical portion 10 of this intermediate wall portion 11 in such a manner that in the unstressed or repose condition of the safety closure 1 (no downward pressure on outer cap 2), the top side 7a of the cylindrical portion 7 on the inner cap 3 and the top end wall portion 4 of the outer cap 2 are kept or held in substantially the same plane by the bias or spring operation or interaction of the lips 12 against the conical portion 10. In case a pressing force is effected upon the outer cap 2, these lips 12 are guided along the conical portion 10 of the intermediate wall portion 11 on the inner cap 3 and are flexed inwardly increasing the bias to restore the outer cap 2 to the condition shown in Fig. 2, to which cap 2 will return when the pressing force is released. Even in such depressed position of outer cap 2 the lips 12 will not give so much friction with conical part 10 that it would only thereby be possible to onscrew or unscrew the inner cap 3 by rotation of the outer cap 2. The outer surface 13 of skirt portion 8 of the inner cap 3 is provided with peripherally spaced, radial rib-like teeth 14, pointing substantially radially, which cooperate and interengage with peripherally spaced, radial rib-like teeth 16 formed on the inner surfaces of cylindrical skirt portion 6 and end wall portion 4 of outer cap 3. Teeth 14 and 16 will engage when outer cap 2 is moved axially downwardly a predetermined distance relative to inner cap 3. This occurs against the bias or pressing force exerted upwardly upon the outer cap 2 by the spring or resilient force of the lips 12 as they are deflected due to following the conical portion 10. The surface 17 of the intermediate wall 11 which faces inwardly toward the cylindrical portion 7 is provided at its upper end with radially extending, peripherally spaced, rib-like teeth 18 having one end plane being substantially in planes through the axis and the other end plane inclined thereto as shown by 18′ in Fig. 4 and 5. The lips 12 on the outer cap 2 are each provided with a tangential protrusion 19, having a length in the axial direction less than the axial length of the lips 12 as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. These protrusions 19 are curved into the region or plane of teeth 18 and are interengaging with the teeth 18 both in the condition shown in Fig. 2 and when downward pressure is exerted upon outer cap 2 of the closure to effect interengagement of teeth 14 and 16. The combined closure can thus be onscrewed upon a container mouth by the protrusions 19 of the lips 12 which provide a sufficient rigidity in a tangential direction to interengage with teeth 18. In the direction reverse to onscrewing, namely, the offscrewing direction, the protrusions 19 provide sufficient flexibility that upon turning of the outer cap 2 in this reverse direction, the protrusions 19 slide past the teeth 18, due to their flexibility, thereby causing a rattling noise, informing the user by an audible signal to initiate some activity for unscrewing the closure. The teeth 18 and protrusions 19 have the effect of a ratchet, allowing onscrewing but not capable of offscrewing. The user must achieve offscrewing by pressing down the outer cap 2, thereby causing interengagement of the teeth 16 of the outer cap 2 with the teeth 14 of the inner cap 3 after which the closure can be unscrewed and removed from the mouth of the container. For loosely keeping the outer and inner caps assembled, the outer cap 2 is provided at its open bottom with a rim 20 extending radially and which overlaps an outer rim 21 provided on the inner cap, said rims limiting upward movement of the outer cap 2 with respect to the inner cap 3 upwardly under influence of the resiliency of the lips 12 to the position of Fig. 2, in which the containers may be piled one on top of the other without the risk that a higher container will depress the outer cap 2. The inner and outer caps are manufactured from material with elastic properties, particularly from plastic material, and accordingly, the inner and outer caps are easily mountable and demountable, respectively, by elastic deformation. They may have different colours. In a preferred embodiment the central opening 5 of the top wall portion 4 of the outer cap 2 is protected, covered or locked by a wall portion 22 which is connected to top wall portion 4 by a few local tearable or rupturable connections 23, e.g. three, molded in the cap as thin bridges. This tearable wall portion 22 can be used as a guarantee seal for guaranteeing the kind, quality and quantity of the container content for newly filled containers. Wall portion 22 needs to be removed to actuate the sliding relationship between inner cap 3 and outer cap 2 to effect opening of the closure and as the connections 23 are weak enough, will automatically rupture on such sliding downward movement of outer cap 2. This wall portion 22 preferably has downwardly extending cams 24 (Figs. 2 and 3), which engage in a circular groove 25 in the top surface 7a of part 7 of the inner cap, which is bridged by a number of cams 26 (Figs. 4 and 5). Cams 24 and 26 may have one vertical end plane and one inclined end plane, so that the cams rattle along each other in one relative direction of rotation and engage on rotation in the opposite direction. This will mean that, if the outer cap is rotated in said opposite direction, which is the direction of unscrewing (screwing off) of the closure, the connections 23 will also rupture. If the closure is screwed on without axial depression of the outer cap, there may be some deviation in the angle of rotation between inner and outer cap, in particular at the end of this movement, by the rather high torque than exerted, so that the inclined planes of the cams 24 and 26 as shown are preferable to avoid rupturing of portion 22 therewith. That these cams are provided for breaking the guarantee seal when rotating the outer cap 2 in the offscrewing direction, although the closure can not normally be unscrewed by such a rotation without depression of the outer cap, finds its justification in many cases because particularly for not too hard plastic materials such rotation may be cambined with exertion of a pinching force on skirt 6 of outer cap 2, clamping this sufficiently into contact with skirt 8 of the inner cap that it might thus be unscrewed. If the inner and outer caps have different colours, it is immediately visible whether the guarantee seal formed by wall portion 22 is present or broken away, in which latter case top part 7a of the inner cap is totally visible. As the protrusions 19 are able to transmit torque in the onscrewing direction from the outer cap 2 to the inner cap, the closure may be screwed on in the factory after filling the container without depression of the outer cap, so without rupturing the guarantee seal.

Claims: A safety closure, particularly safe in the hands of children, to safely close containers, which closure comprises an inner cap (3) housed in and surrounded by an outer cap (2), in which the inner cap is provided at its top side with a closed substantially cylindrical portion (7) and has a skirt portion (8) having at its inner side a threaded portion (9) to screw upon the mouth of a container, an intermediate wall portion (10, 11, 17), integrally interconnecting said skirt portion (8) and said cylindrical portion (7), forming a depression in the inner cap (3) extending downwardly from its top surface to take up the neck of a container to be closed thereby, between said skirt portion (8) and the outer wall (11) of said depression, and having an inwardly inclined lower part (17) of this outer wall (11), the outer cap (2) being provided with a top wall (4) having a central opening (5) surrounding cylindrical portion (7) of the inner cap with small clearance, and also a substantially cylindrical skirt portion (6) which extends from the edge of the top wall (4), said top wall having at least in part axially extending resilient lips (12) adapted to enter into contact with said inclined lower part (17) of said depression in the inner cap so that their lower free ends are free to move up and down with respect thereto, to urge the outer cap (2) resiliently axially away from the inner cap (3), and restraining means (21) on the inner cap (3) limiting axial movement of the outer cap (2) away from the inner cap (3) by said lips (12), in such manner that, when a downward pressure is exerted on the outer cap (2) said resilient lips (12) are compressed by contact with said lower part (17) of said depression and thus create a restoring force, the skirt portion (8) of said inner cap (3) being provided with a set of external radial rib shaped teeth (14), the cylindrical skirt portion (6) of the outer cap (2) being provided with a set of internal radial rib shaped teeth (16), said sets of teeth being positioned axially in different zones so that they interengage only when the outer cap (2) is pressed downwardly over at least a predetermined distance, characterized in that there is a further set of cooperating radial rib shaped teeth (18) and resiliently protruding pawl-like protrusions (19), said teeth (18) being provided on the inside of the top part of the outer wall (11) of said depression in the inner cap (3) and the protrusions (19) being provided on the resilient lips (12) and protruding circumferentially therefrom above the lower free ends of said lips (12), said set of teeth and protrusions (18, 19) being constructed and dimensioned axially for interengagement when the outer cap (2) is in repose, the said protrusions (19) having sufficient rigidity to engage said further set of teeth (18) and effect onscrewing of the closure if the outer cap (2) is turned in one direction, but having sufficient flexibility in a direction reverse to onscrewing the closure so that the protrusions (19) slip past the further set of teeth (18) if the outer cap (2) is turned in the opposite direction. A safety closure according to claim 1, in which the protrusions (19) at their connection with their resilient lip (12) have substantially the same thickness as said lip and, as seen in a tangential direction, gradually increase in thickness in radial directions of the closure from their connection with the resilient lip (12) towards their free end cooperating with said further set of teeth (18). A safety closure according to any of the preceding claims further including a closing cover portion (22) rupturably attached to the outer cap covering the central opening in the top of the outer cap (2), overlying the top wall of the substantially cylindrical portion (7) of the inner cap (3) and preventing downward movement of the outer cap without rupturing, said closing cover portion (22) and the closed top wall of the substantially cylindrical portion (7) of the inner cap (3) have mutually camming parts (24, 26) so that rotation of the outer cap with respect to the inner cap will rupture said rupturable portion (22). A safety closure according to claim 3, in which said mutually camming parts (24, 26) are formed by cams on one of the parts constituted by said closing cover portion (22) and said closed top wall, said cams having on one side a steep stop surface for stopping cooperating camming surfaces on the other one of said parts from movement in one tangential direction with respect thereto and said cams having at their other sides an inclined surface allowing rattling passage therealong of said camming surfaces on the other one of said parts, so that the closing cover portion (22) on the outer cap (2) is ruptured by rotation of the outer cap (2) with respect to the inner cap (3) in the opening (offscrewing) direction and is not ruptured by rotation of the outer cap (2) in the opposite, onscrewing direction.

Inventors: BEKKERS, HENRICUS ANTONIUS MARIA, REYENGA, TJERK
Applicants: TECHNOPLAST B.V.
Application year: 1985
Main classification: B65D55
IPC codes: B65D50