Patent Publication Number: US-4058232-A

Title: Safety cap

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     It has been recognized that many accidents and fatalities occur, particularly among children, through the accidental or unsuspecting use and/or consumption of drugs, poisons and many household products. As a result caps are in wide use today which are child-deterring by nature or require adult strength to open the container. Nonetheless, there remains a need for other effective and child resistant closures. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A principal object of the present invention is to provide a safety cap that is effective and comparable in price and cost to existing conventional screw cap closures and that is capable of providing a tight seal for a container which may be either plastic or glass having particular application as an enclosure for contact cement which may prove hazardous when not properly used. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings: 
     FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a container bearing the safety cap of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded elevational view of a container and the safety cap with the latter being sectioned to disclose its interior construction; 
     FIG. 3 is a similar side elevational view showing the cap mounted on the container while enclosing a tube of contact cement with parts of the container broken away, removed and sectioned; 
     FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the cap bearing container of FIG. 3 in the process of having the cap removed by initially pulling the cap in an axial direction; and 
     FIG. 5 is a similar side elevational view showing the next step involved in removing the cap which entails twisting or screwing the cap to eventually cause disengagement of mating threads of the cap and container neck. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In the drawings a cap 10 is adapted to couple with the neck 12 of the container 14. Both the container and neck may obviously assume any one of a variety of different configurations. In the illustrated embodiment, the neck 12 defines an opening or mouth 16 which provides access to the interior of the container and its contents which in the illustrated embodiment is a tube 18 of contact cement which if not properly used or handled may prove hazardous not only for children but adults as well. 
     Referring now to the cap 10, a closed upper end 20 and opened lower end 22 have interposed therebetween tubular side wall 24. Extending from the innerface of the closed end 20 is a cage 26 or similar structure for cooperating in retaining a sponge disc 28 for engaging with the top end of the closure of the tube 18 to eliminate undesirable motion of the tube 18 within the capped container 14. The lower end 22 of the cap 10 includes a circumferentially extending and radially inwardly projecting rib 30. Spaced a predetermined distance inwardly from the rib 30 is a predetermined length or extent of inwardly projecting teeth 32. 
     The exterior of the neck 12 is provided with cooperating surfaces for receiving the rib 30 and internal threads 32 of the cap 10 in securing the cap across the mouth 16 and permit its removal only after the child-deterrent position is encountered. In this connection, an annular neck recess 34 and a zone of external threads 36 appear on the container neck 12. The recess 34 is actually defined by a raised circumferentially extending strip having an outer concavity shaped to receive the rib 30 in a manner to be described shortly. In addition, the recess 34 is spaced from the external threads 36 by an amount at least equal to the length or extent of the internal threads 32 appearing on the cap as will become evident shortly. 
     In order to mount the cap 10, it is initially placed on the neck 12 of the container 14 and then turned or twisted to cause engagement of its internal threads 32 with the external threads 36 of the neck 12. The respective threaded zones are so arranged and located relative to the cap rib 30 and neck recess 34 that when the cap rib 30 engages the upper part of the neck recess 34, the last part of the turn of the engaged threads will force the rib 30 over the upper edge of the recess 34 into the concavity thereof. When this occurs the threads 32 of the cap 10 and threads 36 of the neck 12 will become disengaged and free from one another. The child-deterrent position will thus be attained with the cap being freely rotatable either clockwise or counter-clockwise without the threads engaging. Under the circumstances, the cap 10 may not be removed unless a prescribed procedure is followed. 
     In order to remove the cap 10 from the neck 12 of the container 14 from the child-deterrent position shown in FIG. 3, the cap 10 is initially retracted relative to the neck 12 in an axial direction as illustrated in FIG. 4. By pulling the cap 10 in this manner, the interengagement of the cap rib 30 and neck recess 34 is broken. With the cap rib 30 and neck recess 34 disengaged, the cap 10 may then be turned counter-clockwise as illustrated in FIG. 5 to initiate the interengagement of the cap threads 32 and neck threads 36. Thereafter the cap 10 need only be rotated or turned to free the cap threads 32 from the neck threads 36 to thereby obtain access to the interior of the container 14. 
     Thus the several aforenoted objects and advantages are most effectively attained. Although a single somewhat preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in detail herein, it should be understood that this invention is in no sense limited thereby and its scope is to be determined by that of the appended claims.