Tamper-evident closure employing inner cap and outer sleeve and container utilized therewith

Abstract

A unitary tamper-evident closure includes an inner threaded cap member (16) interconnected by circumferentially spaced-apart, radially extending break-away tabs (18) to an outer skirt (14) that is concentric with the inner cap member (16). The outer skirt includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart first abutment members (20) that cooperate with circumferentially spaced-apart abutment members (22) on the inner cap member to transmit a driving force from the outer skirt to the inner cap member when the closure is being rotated onto the threaded neck (24) of a container (10). The first abutment members (20) also cooperate with the abutment members (22) for imparting axially oriented forces to the inner cap member (16) and outer skirt (14) in opposite directions when the closure initially is unthreaded from the neck (24). In the preferred embodiment of the invention the outer skirt is provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart second abutment members (26) for cooperating with a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart locking members (28) on a container (10) to assist in maintaining the closure in a closed condition, and also to assist in applying an axial force to the outer skirt (14) for the purpose of assisting in fracturing the break-away tabs (18) that interconnect the inner cap member (16) to the outer skirt (14). A preferred container (10) in accordance with this invention is a unitary member having a neck (24) with a threaded section adjacent the upper end thereof, a circumferentially continuous, radially extending collar (68) terminating in a peripheral, circumferential edge disposed radially outward of the threads, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart locking members (28) below the collar and having portions extending radially beyond the peripheral edge of the collar.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.