Abstract:
An improved container cap has a structural design for preventing pills from spilling out of a container closed with the container cap. The container cap includes a movable cover that is extensible to enable indirect, two-step dispensing of pills, so that the pills come out of the container at a reduced speed and will not fall out accidentally.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present invention relates to container caps, and more particularly, to an improved structure of a container cap for sealing the opening of a container for storing pills or various particulate objects. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Generally, a container for storing medicine, such as pills, has an opening sealingly closed by a cap and having a relatively large diameter to facilitate the dispensing of pills from the container. 
     When the cap is turned open, the opening of the container that was sealingly closed by the cap is completely exposed to allow the pills to come out. However, it is difficult to let out the desired number of pills precisely. Chances are a larger number of pills than needed will spill out by accident, so that the person ready to take the medicine must first take the trouble of putting the extra pills back into the container, thus exposing the pills to contamination. It is believed that many people, particularly those unwell, must have the experience that, due to an awkward operation resulting from poor health condition, pills or a container storing the pills drops to the ground unintentionally and, as a result, the pills are scattered all over the places and soiled. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the shortcomings of the aforementioned container cap that, when turned open, directly expose the opening of the container to the fullest, the inventor of the present invention after contemplating ways of improvement and putting years of experience into research and experiments, finally succeeded in producing an improved structural design for a container cap. 
     The present invention provides a container cap having an improved structural design to prevent pills from spilling out of a container closed with the container cap. The container cap includes a movable cover that is extensible to enable indirect, two-step dispensing of the pills, so that the pills come out of the container at a reduced speed and will not fall out accidentally. The movable cover is also configured to prevent unintentional opening, so that the movable cover can be pulled up to an open state only when it is rotated to a specific position, thereby enabling the two-step dispensing of the pills and keeping the pills from spilling out. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The structure and objectives as well as a preferred mode of use and the spirit of the present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a container cap according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the container cap according to the present invention when secured to a container, showing use of the container cap; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an outer annular housing according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 3A  is another perspective view of the outer annular housing according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a movable cover according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 4A  is another perspective view of the movable cover according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a sectional view of the container cap according to the present invention taken along a line A-A in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view of the container cap according to the present invention taken along a line B-B in  FIG. 2 ; and 
         FIG. 7  provides schematic drawings showing dispensing of pills with the container cap according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  for an exploded, perspective view of a container cap according to the present invention, the container cap includes a movable cover  10 , an outer annular housing  20 , an inner cover  30  and an annular plate  40 . 
     The movable cover  10  (shown in more detail in  FIGS. 4 and 4A ) has a top panel  101 . An insertion tube  102  extending from a bottom of the top panel  101  is formed with slits  102   a  and has a bottom formed with a flange  102   b  and two corresponding protuberances  102   c . The insertion tube  102  further has a front side formed with an opening  102   d . A marker block  101   a  is protrudingly formed on an outer periphery of the top panel  101  in vertical alignment with one of the protuberances  102   c  at the bottom of the insertion tube  102 . In addition, the bottom of the top panel  101  is centrally provided with an annular, toothed surface  101   b  and an annular projection  101   c.    
     The outer annular housing  20  (shown in a more detailed way in  FIGS. 3 and 3A ) has a through hole and an inner annular surface concavely formed with two corresponding, vertical grooves  201 . Each of the two grooves  201  has an end extended transversely with an insertion slot  201   a . In addition, the inner annular surface of the outer annular housing  20  has a bottom portion formed with an annular recess  202 . Furthermore, the outer annular housing  20  has an outer periphery having an upper portion protrudingly formed with a marker block  201   b  corresponding in position to one of the grooves  201 . 
     The inner cover  30  has a top formed with an annular, toothed surface  301  while an annular notch  302  is provided at an inner periphery of the toothed surface  301 . The inner cover  30  also has a through hole  303  formed centrally therein. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the annular, toothed surface  301  is engageable with the annular, toothed surface  101   b  at the bottom of the top panel  101  of the movable cover  10 . In addition, the annular notch  302  can mate with the annular projection  101   c  at the bottom of the top panel  101  of the movable cover  10 . The annular plate  40  can be fixedly installed at a bottom of the outer annular housing  20 . 
     To assemble the container cap, the insertion tube  102  of the movable cover  10  is inserted into the through hole of the outer annular housing  20 . While doing so, the slits  102   a  formed on the insertion tube  102  provide contraction spaces to facilitate insertion of the insertion tube  102  in place, so that the flange  102   b  and the two protuberances  102   c  at the bottom of the insertion tube  102  are engaged in the annular recess  202  on the bottom portion of the inner annular surface of the outer annular housing  20 . In consequence, the movable cover  10  is prevented from disengagement from the outer annular housing  20  and is capable only of axial rotation. Next, the inner cover  30  is put in place so that the annular, toothed surface  301  and the annular notch  302  of the inner cover  30  are engaged with the annular, toothed surface  101   b  and the annular projection  101   c  at the bottom of the top panel  101  of the movable cover  10 , respectively. Finally, the annular plate  40  is fixedly installed at the bottom of the outer annular housing  20  to form the container cap  1000 , which can be used to sealingly close an opening of a container  50 , as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 5 . 
     The flange  102   b  and the two protuberances  102   c  of the insertion tube  102  of the movable cover  10 , when engaged in the annular recess  202  on the bottom portion of the inner annular surface of the outer annular housing  20 , cannot be disengaged and is capable only of axial rotation, making it impossible to pull the movable cover  10  up to an open state. In other words, the movable cover  10  is locked. Referring to  FIGS. 2 ,  5  and  6 , the movable cover  10  cannot be pulled up to the open state unless the movable cover  10  is rotated so that the two protuberances  102   c  of the insertion tube  102  are aligned with the two grooves  201  on the inner annular surface of the outer annular housing  20 . Alignment between the protuberances  102   c  and the two grooves  20  is achieved by rotating the movable cover  10  and aligning the marker block  101   a  thereof with the marker block  201   b  of the outer annular housing  20 . 
     To secure the container cap  1000  onto the container  50 , the container cap  1000  is placed directly on top of the container  50 , and the movable cover  10  is pressed downward to engage the annular, toothed surface  101   b  thereof with the annular, toothed surface  301  of the inner cover  30 . Then, the movable cover  10  is rotated so that the inner cover  30  is driven downward to seal the container  50 . 
     The container  50  serves to store pills or other particulate objects. 
     In addition, the opening  102   d  on the front side of the insertion tube  102  of the movable cover  10  may be sized according to practical needs. 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the container cap  1000  secured to the container  50  and demonstrates use of the container cap  1000 . As shown in the drawing, when it is desired to take out the pills stored in the container  50  (referring also to  FIGS. 5 and 6 ), the movable cover  10  is rotated to align the marker block  101   a  on the outer periphery of the top panel  101  of the movable cover  10  with the marker block  201   b  of the outer annular housing  20 . Consequently, the two protuberances  102   c  at the bottom of the insertion tube  102  of the movable cover  10  correspond in position to the two grooves  201  on the inner annular surface of the outer annular housing  20 , respectively. Next, the movable cover  10  is directly pulled up to a predetermined position and rotated slightly, allowing the two protuberances  102   c  at the bottom of the insertion tube  102  to enter and be retained by the insertion slots  201   a  extending transversely from the ends of the two grooves  201 , respectively. Thus, the movable cover  10  is prevented from moving downward to enable dispensing of the pills from the opening  102   d  on the front side of the insertion tube  102 . 
       FIG. 7  schematically shows how the pills are dispensed with the container cap of the present invention. To begin with, as shown in the drawing, the container  50  is tilted to a first angle such that the pills stored therein fall into the insertion tube  102  of the movable cover  10  through the through hole  303  of the inner cover  30  and are temporarily stopped. Then, the container  50  is tilted to a second angle to allow a desired number of pills to come out of the opening  102   d  of the movable cover  10 . This indirect, two-step dispensing process not only prevents the pills from spilling out, but also helps control the number of pills dispensed. 
     In conclusion, the present invention has been demonstrated to serve the intended purposes. In addition, the present invention has not been put to public use and satisfies the requirements of utility and novelty for patent application. Therefore, an application for patent of the present invention is hereby lawfully filed for examination.