Tamper-evident container

A lid/container combination comprising:

• a lid made of a resilient elastic and having a depending skirt with a bottom edge, said skirt having an internal surface, first screw thread means on said internal surface, multiple sets of teeth formed integral with and depending from said bottom edge, said multiple sets of teeth being spaced from one another along said bottom edge of said skirt, and a plurality of mutually spaced latch lugs formed integral with and depending from said bottom edge of said skirt;
• and
• a container having an open top end, a closed bottom end, and a side wall with an outer surface extending from said open top end to said closed bottom end, second screw thread means on said outer surface adjacent said open top end, said second screw thread means being adapted to mate with said first screw thread means whereby said lid may be attached to said container by rotating said lid in a first direction to engage said first screw thread means with said second screw thread means and detached from said container by rotating said lid in a second opposite direction to disengage said first screw thread means from said second screw thread means, a circumferentially-extending flange formed integral with and projecting radially outward from said outer surface of said side wall, said flange having an upper surface and being located adjacent to said second screw thread means with said second screw thread means being located between said open top end and said flange, a tab member constituting a section of said flange, said tab member having an upper side characterized by a set of upwardly projecting teeth in position to be engaged by one of the multiple sets of teeth depending from said bottom edge of said skirt when said lid is screwed onto said container, whereby to lock said lid to said container, said flange also having a pair of radially-extending circumferentially-spaced tearable sections of reduced thickness demarcating opposite sides of said tab member whereby said tab member can be (a) broken away from said flange by tearing said sections of reduced thickness along said opposite sides and (b) moved downward so as to move said upwardly projecting teeth out of engagement with any of said multiple sets of teeth on said skirt, and a catch element formed integral with said upper surface,
• said latch lugs and said catch element being disposed so that when said lid is screwed onto said container said catch element will intercept one of said latch lugs and cam it and said skirt radially inward far enough to allow said one latch lug to pass by said catch element, whereby said skirt is free to return to its original shape and unscrewing of said lid from the container is blocked as a consequence of said catch element being in intercepting relation with said one latch lug.

A container/lid combination comprising:

• a container comprising a bottom wall and a side wall formed integral with the bottom wall, said side wall being circular in cross-section and increasing in diameter with increasing distance from said bottom wall, said side wall defining an open top end for said container and having an exterior surface, first screw thread means on said exterior surface of said side wall adjacent to said open top end, a peripheral flange formed integral with and projecting radially outward from said exterior surface below and spaced from said first screw thread means, said flange having a section thereof demarcated as a tab by two mutually spaced radially-extending tab-tear grooves in said flange, said tab having an upper surface facing in the direction of said first screw means and a first set of teeth of saw-tooth shape projecting upward from said upper surface and extending In series between said grooves, said grooves having a depth such that opposite radially-extending edges of said tab are connected to adjacent portions of said flange by thin flange sections that are tearable along the length of said grooves to allow said tab to be bent downward out of the plane of said flange, and a catch element formed integral with and projecting upwardly from said flange;
• and
• a circular lid having a main body section and a rim section formed integral with and surrounding said main body section, said rim section comprising a depending wall of circular cross-sectional shape, said depending wall having an internal surface and a bottom edge and being sized to surround said side wall at the top end of said container, a plurality of second screw thread means on said internal surface of said depending wall, said second screw thread means being adapted to make a screw connection with said first screw thread means whereby said lid may be attached to said container to close off said open top end of the container;
• and multiple sets of teeth formed integral with and projecting downwardly from said bottom edge of said depending wall, each set of said multiple sets of teeth comprising a plurality of like teeth arranged in series along said bottom edge and said multiple sets of teeth being spaced uniformly from one another along said bottom edge, the teeth of said multiple sets of teeth being shaped to mesh with the teeth of said first set of teeth when said lid is screwed onto said container, said multiple sets of teeth being located so that when said lid is attached to said container by a forward screwing action involving engagement of said first and second screw thread means, one set of said multiple sets of teeth will mesh with said first set of teeth whereby removal of said lid from said container by a reverse screwing action is prohibited by interference of said first set of teeth with said one of the multiple sets of teeth on said depending wall, and a plurality of latch lugs formed integral with and projecting down from said bottom edge of said depending wall, said latch lugs being uniformly spaced circumferentially along said bottom edge in alternating relation with said multiple sets of teeth;
• said catch element and said latch lugs being equally spaced from a center axis common to said container so that said catch element will intercept one of said latch lugs when said lid is being attached to said container by said forward screwing action, said depending wall being capable of flexing inwardly and said catch element being shaped so that (a) when said lid is rotated in a direction to initiate said forward screwing action said catch element will exert a camming action on said intercepted latch lug that causes said depending wall to flex inwardly enough to allow said intercepted latch lug to move past said catch element and permit completion of said forward screwing action, and (b) after said lid has been attached to said container by said forward screwing action, said catch element will interfere with said intercepted latch lug to prevent removal of said lid by said reverse screwing action until said depending wall has been depressed inwardly by a manually applied force far enough to allow said intercepted latch lug to pass by said catch member.