Locking cap for the pour spout of a suction container

In a suction container useable to suction fluids from the surgical field of a patient in an operating room environment, a rigid cover overlying a flexible body portion of the container and attached thereto, the cover comprising:

• a circular engagement member including an upper face, a lower face, an annular outer rim, and a plurality of downwardly directed annular flanges successively displaced inwardly from said outer rim, at least one of said flanges being attached to the flexible body portion;
• a plurality of spaced-apart support vanes extending generally from the center of the cover to the periphery thereof to divide the cover into a plurality of segments disposed between the support vanes;
• a support cylinder concentrically disposed about the center of the cover, closed at an upper face thereof, and intersecting the support vanes, said segments disposed between the support vanes extending from the annular outer rim to a base of the support cylinder;
• a plurality of openings in the cover, including a patient port, a vacuum port and a pour spout, said pour spout including a tubular body portion;
• a locking cap for the pour spout, said locking cap having a complementary tubular body for insertion into the tubular body portion of the pour spout;
• means for coupling the locking cap into sealing engagement with the pour spout, said means comprising a segmented thread having a plurality of segments, each segment defining a ramp and a stop, and a plurality of complementary ramped locking elements, one of the segments and the ramped locking elements being disposed at spaced-apart intervals around an inner wall of the tubular body portion of the pour spout, and the other of the segments and the ramped locking elements being disposed at spaced-apart intervals around an outer surface of the tubular body of the locking cap, the spaced-apart ramped locking elements engaging said segments and locking the cap on the pour spout in fluid-tight engagement therewith when said locking cap is rotated, said ramped locking elements cooperating with the segments to force the locking cap more fully into the pour spout to seal the pour spout as the ramped locking elements slide along the ramps of the segments to a fully closed position at which the ramped locking elements have substantially reached the stops.