Tamper-indicating device and method

A tamper-indicating device comprising:

• a lower disk-shaped opaque sheet shaped to be attached at an underside thereof to an annular upper surface of a bottle neck;
• an intermediate disk-shaped sheet, having a diameter substantially the same as that of said lower sheet and including photosensitive means on an upper surface thereof, said photosensitive means adopted to effect a time-delayed change in appearance of said upper surface in response to light exposure;
• an upper disk-shaped opaque sheet superposed to and having substantially the same diameter as said intermediate and lower sheets;
• first adhesive means for attaching an upper side of said upper sheet to a bottle cap, and for attaching an upper side of said lower sheet to an underside of said intermedite sheet and a lower side of said lower sheet to a bottle neck;
• and
• second adhesive means, weaker than said first adhesive means, for joining said upper surface of said intermediate sheet to an underside of said upper sheet at outer peripheries thereof, such that an act of removing an associated bottle cap from a corresponding bottle neck causes said upper sheet to be separated from said intermediate sheet.

A method of assembling a tamper-indicating package comprising the steps of:

• placing an object to be packaged between upper and lower sheets of transparent material;
• placing a tamper indicator between said sheets and along outer peripheries thereof, said tamper indicator including a lower strip impermeable to an ambient condition, an intermediate strip superposed to said lower strip and including means on an upper surface thereof sensitive to an ambient condition, said sensitive means adapted to effect a time-delayed change in appearance of said upper surface in response to said ambient condition, an upper strip impermeable to said ambient condition superposed to said intermediate strip, first adhesive means, impermeable to said ambient condition, for attaching said lower strip to said lower sheet and said intermediate strip, and for attaching said upper strip to said upper sheet, and second adhesive means, impermeable to said ambient condition, and weaker than said first adhesive means, for joining said upper strip to said upper sheet;
• and
• forming a heat seal about said peripheries of said sheets, thereby sealing said object therebetween and sealing said tamper indicator within said heat seal.