US 4,171,057 AGranted

Child-resistant medicine vial

AssigneeSunbeam Plastics Corporation

InventorPeter P. Gach

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Abstract

A child-resistant medicine vial, or the like consisting of a container and a cap therefor. The container has a hollow body and a tubular neck and the cap has a disc-like top and two concentric depending skirts. The inner skirt is adapted to be inserted into the open end of the container neck. The container has an outwardly extending annular flange which is spaced below the open end of the neck. The outer cap skirt is relatively flexible and extends telescopingly over the open end of the container, the bottom edge of the skirt reaching down into contact with or at least close to the flange. At least one upwardly extending ramp on the flange is engageable by a lug on the lower margin of the outer cap skirt. When the outer cap skirt is not stressed, the lug lies radially outside of the circular path defined by the ramp. The cap is removed by first squeezing the outer skirt inwardly at the lug location to move the lug into circumferential alignment with the ramp and then rotating the cap until the lug rides up the ramp, separating the margin of the outer cap skirt from the flange so the skirt can be engaged and the cap removed.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A combination child-resistant container and cap therefor, consisting of:

(a) a container having,
(1) an open topped body which has an open annular neck terminating in an annular lip that lies in a radial plane of the neck,
(2) a thin planar, annular flange extending outwardly from the outer side of said body the upper surface thereof being spaced axially below said lip, and
(3) at least one arcuate ramp on said flange, said ramp having a radial thickness less than the width of said flange and said ramp having an upwardly extending top surface rising at at least one end from the upper surface of said flange, and,
(b) a cap for said container, said cap having
(1) a disc-like top,
(2) a resilient inner, tubular skirt depending from said top and adapted to tightly fit into the interior of said container neck,
(3) an outer, annular skirt depending from said top which is adapted to telescope over said container neck and which has,
(a) an axial length such as to extend downwardly into close proximity to said container flange,
(b) an outer diameter at its bottom edge no greater than the outer diameter of said flange,
(c) an inner diameter greater than the outer diameter of said ramp, and,
(4) at least one lug on the inner side of said outer skirt, said lug having a radial thickness less than the space between the outer side of said ramp and the inner side of said outer skirt,

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.