US 2009/0014404 A1Published application

Convertible container closure

AssigneeBerry Plastics Corporation

InventorMark N. Russell

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A convertible closure includes a lid and a lid-mover ring coupled to the lid. The lid is adapted to mate with a filler neck of a container to close an opening into the filler neck. The lid-mover ring can be used to rotate the lid in clockwise and counterclockwise directions to mate and unmate the lid and the filler neck. The convertible closure can be modified by a user to function in a child-resistant (CR) mode or a non-CR mode.

Claims25

Dependent claims

A convertible closure comprising

a lid including a base adapted to be mounted on a container to close a mouth opening into a storage region formed in the container, first and second torque-receiving lugs coupled to the base and arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to one another, and first and second torque-receiving teeth coupled to the base and arranged to define a flange-receiving channel therebetween, and
a lid-mover ring including a shell arranged to surround the lid and rotate relative to the lid about an axis of rotation extending through the base of the lid, a lid-mover tab coupled to the shell and arranged to mate with the first and second torque-receiving lugs of the lid upon upward movement of the lid along the axis of rotation to a raised position relative to the shell, and a lid-mover flange coupled to the shell and arranged to mate with the first and second torque-receiving teeth of the lid upon downward movement of the lid along the axis of rotation away from the raised position to a lowered position relative to the shell, wherein the shell is formed to include an annular side wall surrounding the lid and a top rim coupled to the annular side wall to overlie a portion of the lid and formed to include a central aperture opening into an interior region of the shell bounded by the top rim and annular side wall to expose the base of the lid, the lid-mover flange is coupled to the annular side wall of the shell and arranged to extend inwardly toward the base of the lid and into the flange-receiving channel to mate with the first and second torque-receiving teeth coupled to the base to impart rotary motion to the lid in response to clockwise and counterclockwise movement of the shell about the axis of rotation only when the lid has been moved to assume the lowered position relative to the shell, and the lid-mover tab is coupled to the top rim of the shell and arranged to extend downwardly toward the base to mate with the first torque-receiving lug coupled to the base to impart clockwise rotary motion to the lid in response to clockwise movement of the shell about the axis of rotation only when the lid has been moved to assume the raised position relative to the shell and to mate with the second torque-receiving lug coupled to the base to impart counterclockwise rotary motion to the lid in response to application of an external push-down force to the shell to move the top rim of the shell downwardly toward the base to deform elastically the lid-mover tab and to place the lid in an elevated position above the raised and lowered positions relative to the shell and counterclockwise movement of the shell about the axis of rotation only when the lid has been moved to assume the elevated position relative to the shell.

A convertible closure comprising

a lid-mover ring including a shell formed to include an interior region, a lid-mover tab made of an elastic material and coupled to the shell and arranged to extend into the interior region, and a lid-mover flange coupled to the shell and arranged to extend into the interior region, and
a lid mounted for movement in the interior region of the lid-mover ring between a lowered position wherein torque-receiving teeth included in the lid mate with the lid-mover flange to cause the lid to rotate with the lid-mover ring about an axis of rotation in response to rotation of the lid-mover ring about the axis of rotation, an elevated position above the lowered position wherein a lid-removal drive face included in the lid-mover tab is arranged to engage a torque-receiving lid included in the lid during counterclockwise movement of the shell of the lid-mover ring about the axis of rotation, and a raised position located between the lowered and elevated positions wherein a lid-installation drive face included in the lid-mover tab is arranged to engage another torque-receiving lug included in the lid during clockwise movement of the shell of the lid-mover ring about the axis of rotation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

A convertible closure comprising

a lid including a base adapted to be mounted on a container to close a mouth opening into a storage region formed in the container, first and second torque-receiving lugs coupled to the base and arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to one another, and first and second torque-receiving teeth coupled to the base and arranged to define a flange-receiving channel therebetween, and
a lid-mover ring including a shell arranged to surround the lid and rotate relative to the lid about an axis of rotation extending through the base of the lid, a lid-mover tab coupled to the shell and arranged to mate with the first and second torque-receiving lugs of the lid upon upward movement of the lid along the axis of rotation to a raised position relative to the shell, and a lid-mover flange coupled to the shell and arranged to mate with the first and second torque-receiving teeth of the lid upon downward movement of the lid along the axis of rotation away from the raised position to a lowered position relative to the shell, wherein the shell is formed to include an annular side wall surrounding the lid and a top rim coupled to the annular side wall to overlie a portion of the lid and formed to include a central aperture opening into an interior region of the shell bounded by the top rim and annular side wall to expose the base of the lid, the lid-mover flange is coupled to the annular side wall of the shell and arranged to extend inwardly toward the base of the lid and into the flange-receiving channel to mate with the first and second torque-receiving teeth coupled to the base to impart rotary motion to the lid in response to clockwise and counterclockwise movement of the shell about the axis of rotation only when the lid has been moved to assume the lowered position relative to the shell, and the lid-mover tab is coupled to the top rim of the shell and arranged to extend downwardly toward the base to mate with the first torque-receiving lug coupled to the base to impart clockwise rotary motion to the lid in response to clockwise movement of the shell about the axis of rotation only when the lid has been moved to assume the raised position relative to the shell and to mate with the second torque-receiving lug coupled to the base to impart counterclockwise rotary motion to the lid in response to application of an external push-down force to the shell to move the top rim of the shell downwardly toward the base to deform elastically the lid-mover tab and to place the lid in an elevated position above the raised and lowered positions relative to the shell and counterclockwise movement of the shell about the axis of rotation only when the lid has been moved to assume the elevated position relative to the shell.