Child-resistant closure assembly

A safety closure assembly for a threaded container neck comprising:

• an inner cap member including a top panel and a depending annular skirt, said inner cap skirt having threads formed thereon for engaging the threaded container neck, said inner cap panel having a plurality of peripherally spaced upstanding driving lugs formed on the upper surface thereof;
• an outer cap member including a top panel and a depending annular skirt, said outer cap member loosely encompassing said inner cap member and permitting relative rotational movement therebetween, and means for retaining said inner cap member within said outer cap member but permitting relative axial movements of said inner and outer cap members;
• said outer cap panel having a plurality of apertures formed therein to permit the insertion of said driving lugs in said apertures for transmission of torque between said cap members when said cap members are in a first relative axial position;
• ratchet lug means on one of said inner cap and outer cap panels;
• cooperating leaf spring members on the other of said inner cap and outer cap panels normally biasing said inner and outer cap members to a second relative axial position in which said non-concentric apertures and driving lugs are out of engagement, said leaf springs being arranged to drivingly engage said ratchet lugs when said outer cap member is rotated in a closure tightening direction and to cam past said ratchet lugs when said outer cap member is rotated in a closure removal direction;
• and
• said outer cap member apertures being angularly misaligned with said upstanding driving lugs on said inner cap member when said leaf spring members are drivingly engaging said ratchet lugs.

A safety closure assembly for a threaded container neck comprising:

• an inner cap member incuding a top panel and a depending annular skirt, said inner cap skirt having threads formed thereon for engaging the threaded container neck, said inner cap panel having at least one upstanding, non-concentric driving lug formed on the upper surface thereof;
• an outer cap member including a top panel and a depending annular skirt, said outer cap member loosely encompassing said inner cap member and permitting relative rotational movement therebetween, and means for retaining said inner cap member within said outer cap member but permitting limited relative axial movements of said inner and outer cap members;
• a plurality of peripherally spaced, upstanding ratchet lugs on said inner cap panel;
• a plurality of depending integral leaf spring elements on the bottom surface of said outer cap member normally biasing said inner and outer cap members to a second relative axial position in which said non-concentric aperture and driving lug are out of engagement, said leaf springs being arranged to drivingly engage said ratchet lugs when said outer cap member is rotated in a closure tightening direction and to cam past said ratchet lugs when said outer cap member is rotated in a closure removal direction;
• and
• said non-concentric aperture being angularly misaligned with said upstanding drive lug when said leaf spring members are drivingly engaging said ratchet lugs.