PACKAGE, FOR INSTANCE FOR TABLETS FOR PHARMACEUTICAL USE

Abstract: Package, preferably for tablets for pharmaceutical use, including a container (1) in the form of a cylindrical sleeve, a sealing plug (2) inserted into one end of the sleeve, and a safety ring (3) forming an extension of the envelope surface of the container (1) and being connected to the container (1) by means of several breakable bridges (4). A number of hook means are arranged circumferentially on the periphery of the sealing plug (2) in such a location on the periphery that they abut against the upper edge of the container (1) in the fully inserted position of the sealing plug (2) when the safety ring is connected, the hook means further forming stop means against further insertion of the sealing plug (2) into the container (1) when the safety ring (3) has been torn away when the sealing plug (2) has been opened the first time.

Description: Package, for instance for tablets for pharmaceutical use Technical field of the invention The present invention relates to a package, preferably for tablets for pharmaceutical use. The package comprises a container in the form of a cylindrical sleeve, a sealing plug inserted into one end of the sleeve and a safety ring forming an extension of the envelope surface of the container and being connected to the container by means of several breakable bridges. Background to the invention Special requirements are made on packages for pharmaceutical uses. Since these packages often are used by weak, ill or handicapped persons, the force necessary for opening should be minimized, the pharmaceutical content of the package at the same time being guaranteed by the safety seal which is breakable by the user. Technical problems regarding production and handling entail that demands are made on the outer shape of the package. Several types of tablet packages are available on the market. One of these packages comprise a tablet tube made of tin or plastic and into which a sealing plug is inserted. The sealing plug comprises an inser- tion part, which is enclosed by the tube, and a main part having an extent outside the tube both in an axial and in a radial direction. A safety ring is attached to the plug as an extension of the envelope surface of said plug by means of a number of bridges. The mouth of the tablet tube is further provided with an external flange, which is arranged in such a way that the bridges bridge the flange in the posi¬ tion wherein the sealing plug with the safety ring entirely is mounted on the tablet tube. The safety ring has internal, resilient snap means that snap in behind the flange and lock the plug with the associated safety ring in a sealing position after the mounting of the plug. In order to open the package, a force is applied on a point of the periphery of the plug, which force is mainly directed in the longitudinal direction of the tube. The safety ring abuts the flange at the mouth of the tube with its snap means, the plug simultaneously being pushed outwardly. The bridges are succeedly broken, one by one, starting at the point where the force is applied. The plug can then be freed and the safety ring be removed. When using this kind of package it would be natural to try to open the sealing plug either by pulling it out of the tablet tube or by rotating it. None of these two methods are possible in the package described above. At an attempt to pull the plug outwards in the direction of the tube, the pulling power will be distributed over all the bridges, and the combined strength in the material will entail that the bridges do not break if the load is uniformly distributed. An attempt to rotate the plug will not work, since in this case, the entire plug only will be rotated in and around the tube together with the safety ring. At this stage, after two failed attempts to open the tube, an impatient user will begin to tear and pull the plug and the safety ring in an uncon¬ trolled way and will in this manner with a certain effort with a great probability manage to break the bridges and to pull out the plug. How- ever, a weak, ill or handicapped person can not use this uncontrolled tearing method. This prior art package thus is altogether too compli¬ cated to open to be user-orientated. The outer shape of the package is defined by the cylindrical tube and the plug with the safety ring, the plug with ring having an radial extent which is about 25 % larger than the radial extent of the tube. This has great disadvantages from a handling and packaging point of view at the production, the distribution and the sale. If the packages are stacked, the design of the main part of the plug will entail that the stack will be fan-shaped. This of course is very unwieldy and this type of packages are instead stacked oriented in alternating directions. The increase in voTyme occasioned by the size of the plug in this way will decrease to about half but, from a handling point of view, it is a great disadvantage to have to sort the packages into different directions. The design of the tablet tube with the external flange also causes problem when tablets are to be filled into the tube. The tablet tubes are positioned in a row in a cassette in the feeding equipment, and this row will have a certain fan-shape because of this flange. For this reason the tubes sometimes will slip down obliquely when fed which means that some tubes will turn around before they reach the filling position, which causes disturbances in the production line. The fundamental concept of the invention The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems by designing the package in such a way that the sealing plug is easy to open in a natural way and that the package has an outer shape which implies that it can be stacked and packaged in large numbers without any disadvantages. A package of the type described introductorily is in accordance with the invention characterized in that a number of hook means are arranged circumferentially on the periphery of the sealing plug and located on the periphory in such a way that they abut the upper edge of the container in the fully inserted position of the sealing plug when the safety ring is connected, the hooks means forming stop means against a further insertion of the sealing plug into the container when the safety ring has been torn away after the first removal of the sealing plug. Brief description of the attached drawings One embodiment of a package according to the present invention and modifications thereof will be described more in detail below with reference to the attached drawings, wherein - Fig 1 shows a perspective view of a first embodiment of the invention, - Fig 2 shows an axial section through the package according to Fig 1 with the sealing plug in a sealing position, - Fig 3 shows an elevational view of the tablet tube and the sealing plug being separated, Ffgs 4 - 6 corresponds to Figs 1 - 3 showing a second embodiment of the invention. Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention The package according to Figs 1 - 3 comprises a container in the form of a tablet tube 1, wherein tablets (not shown), having an extent corres¬ ponding to the cross section of the tube 1, are stacked to abutment against a sealing plug 2, inserted into the tube 1. The tube 1 is designed with a cylindrical, entirely even envelope surface and is preferably made of plastic. A guarantee seal in the form of a safety ring 3 is attached to the mouth or upper side of the tube 1 by means of a number of bridges 4. A narrow slit 5 is formed between the safety ring 3 and the tube 1, which is bridged by the bridges 4 being uniformly distributed around the slit 5. The diameter of the safety ring 3 corresponds to the diameter of the tablet tube 1, and the ring 3 thus forms an extension of the envelope surface of the tablet tube 1. The sealing plug 2 is designed to be entirely insertable into the mouth formed by the safety ring 3 and the tube 1 after the tablet tube has been filled, which means that the diameter of the plug 2 is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the tube 1 and the ring 3. A number of hook means 6 are arranged on the envelope surface of the sealing plug and are uniformly distributed over said surface. The hook means 6 snap into the narrow slit 5 formed between the safety ring 3 and the tablet tube 1 when the plug 2 is inserted, said hook means also function as stop means at the insertion of the plug 2 into the tube. At the attachment or at the sealing of the package, the sealing plug 2 will have a random orientation in relation to the tablet tube 1. For this reason the number of hook means 6 should be different from the number of bridges 4 in order to obtain that the division of the hook means 6 and the division of the bridges 4 are different. In this way it is avoided that the sealing plug 2 may take a position wherein all hook means 6 are located behind bridges 4. In the package according to Figs 4, 5 and 6 the tablet tube 1 and the safety ring 3 attached by means of bridges 4 are designed in the same way as in the embodiment according to Figs 1 - 3. The sealing plug 2 comprises a main part 7 and an insertion part 8, the diameter of the main part 7 being equal to the diameter of the tube 1, which means that the main part 7 is located outside the opening of the tube 1 and forms an extension of the common envelope surface of the tube 1 and the safety ring 3. The insertion part 8 of the plug comprises a cylindrical part 9 next to the main part, on which a suitable number of hook means 6 are arranged which snap into the slit 5 between the tube 1 and the safety ring 3 when the plug 2 is mounted. The cylindrical part 9 continues into a friction part 10 which is somewhat arched in order to abut against the inner wall of the tube 1 with a certain pressure. An abutment ring 11 is resiliently suspended from the friction part 10 by means of a number of spiral-shaped attachment means 12. The abutment ring 11 is disposed to resiliently abut against the stack of tablets (not shown) inserted into the tube 1, in order to prevent their movement in the tube with the attendant damage to the tablets. A holder for a drying agent is preferably arranged inside the insertion part 8. The function of the invention In both embodiments the hook means lock and secure the sealing plug against being opened by cooperating with the slit formed between the safety ring and the tablet tube and by gripping the edge of the safety ring. When the pharmaceutical content has been packaged and the sealing plug has been mounted, the package thus can not be opened without breaking the safety ring. In all preferred embodiments the outer shape of the package is cylind¬ rical without any projecting parts that make demands on space and are disturbing. The construction is an optimal adaptation to the require¬ ments regarding the productional handling requirements made on a package. The empty cylindrical tubes can be fed, without any risk for disturbances in the production line, to be filled with tablets. The outer shape of the package saves a considerable amount of space in a subsequent packaging for distribution and storing in the marketing stage compared to prior art constructions, an orientation of the packages not being necessary. The package according to the invention is opened by a rotating movement which in accordance with the reasoning made above is a natural opening movement. The bridges are influenced by the torsional force striving to break the bridges, the hook means at the same time gripping the bridges and contributing to their breakage. Because of this cooperation the force necessary to open the package is sufficiently low to allow a weak, ill or handicapped person to manage it without any difficulties. The rotating opening process also is suited for the use of an aid means common for handicapped, a so called cap opener. Possible modifications of the invention The invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described above, and several conceivable modifications of the invention are possible within the scope of the claims. The container can for instance consist of tins with different dimensions instead of the tablet tube. The insertion part of the plug as it is shown in Figs 4 - 6 can also be provided on the sealing plug shown in Figs 1 - 3. The number of the hook means may vary and the division thereof in regard of the location thereof around the periphery need not be uniform. The number of the bridges may also vary but should not be less than two. The plug and the container can be provided with orienting guides by which means they are guided in such a way that when brought together bridges and hook means will assume the desired position in relation to each other.

Claims: C l a i m s 1. Package, particularly for tablets for pharmaceutical use, com- prising a container (1) in the form of a cylindrical sleeve, a sealing plug (2) inserted into one end of the sleeve, and a safety ring (3) forming an extension of the envelope surface of the container (1), and being connected to the container (1) by means of several breakable bridges (4), c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that a number of hook means (6) are arranged circumferentially on the periphery of the sealing plug (2) in a position on the periphery abutting the upper edge of the container (1) in the fully inserted position of the sealing plug (2) when the safety ring is connected, said hook means forming stop means against a further insertion of the sealing plug (2) into the container (1) when the safety ring (3) has been torn away after the sealing plug (2) having been removed for the first time. 2. Package according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the safety ring (3) forms a guarantee seal in that a slit (5) is arranged between the safety ring (3) and the container (1) into which the hook means (6) are adapted to snapin and grip the edge of the safety ring (3) for locking the sealing plug (2) in the sealing position. 3. Package according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the hook means (6) are arranged on the periphery of the sealing plug (2) to cooperate with the breakable bridges (4) between the container (1) and the safety ring (3) in such a way that the hook means (6) grip and break said bridges (4) at a turning movement. 4. Package according to claim 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the sealing plug (2) is entirely inserted into a unit having a cylind¬ rical outer shape and comprising the container (1) and the safety ring (3) being adjacent thereto. 5. Package according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the sealing plug (2) includes a main part (7) and an insertion part (8), the insertion part (8) being encased in the container (1) with the safety ring (3), the main part (7) being arranged outside the mouth and having a diameter being equal to the diameter of the container (1) and the safety ring (3).

Inventors: LOEFMAN CLAES PETER, LOEFMAN, CLAES, PETER
Applicants: ASTRA PHARMA PROD, ASTRA PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTION AB
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B65D55
IPC codes: B65D43, B65D51