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US 8,205,761 B2Granted
Lightweight child-resistant closure
AssigneeStull Technologies, Inc.
InventorsGene Stull, Sr., Robert T. Auer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A child-resistant container closure includes a base cap having a top, a skirt, and a plurality of asymmetric teeth recessed in the skirt below the top, and a cover cap having a top, a skirt, and a plurality of asymmetric downwardly extending teeth adjacent to the skirt, the teeth being adapted for asymmetric engagement with the base cap teeth, the skirt having a plurality of interspersed vertical legs each spaced apart from adjacent legs by vertical openings, the legs being joined at a bottom end of the skirt by a support ring, the base cap teeth each having a sloped sliding face to ensure that one of the cover cap teeth will drop into a notch between adjacent base cap teeth when the cover cap is rotated in one direction.
Claims19
A child-resistant container closure comprising:
- a base cap having a top and a skirt depending downwardly from the top, the skirt including a plurality of asymmetric teeth recessed below the top, internal threads for engaging a neck of the container, and a bottom end;
- and
- a cover cap having a top and a skirt depending downwardly from the top, the top including a plurality of asymmetric downwardly extending teeth adjacent to the skirt, the teeth being adapted for asymmetric engagement with the base cap teeth, the skirt having a plurality of interspersed vertical legs each spaced apart from adjacent legs by vertical openings, the legs being joined by a support ring, the cover cap teeth being formed on an inner surface of the legs;
- wherein when the cover cap is rotated in a first direction, the cover cap teeth positively engage the base cap teeth to cause the base cap to rotate along with the cover cap in the first direction;
- wherein when the cover cap is rotated in a second direction in combination with a predetermined downward force urging the cover cap top toward the base cap top, the cover cap teeth positively engage the base cap teeth to cause the base cap to rotate along with the cover cap in the second direction, the base cap teeth each having a sloped sliding face to ensure that one of the cover cap teeth will drop into a notch between adjacent base cap teeth when the cover cap is rotated in the second direction;
- wherein when the cover cap is rotated in the second direction in the absence of the predetermined downward force, the base cap remains nonrotating and the cover cap teeth slidably engage with the base cap teeth causing an audible clicking sound as pairs of teeth jump from one sliding engagement to another;
- wherein each of the base cap teeth has an opening face on one side of the sliding face and each of the cover cap teeth has an opening face on one side of the sliding face;
- and
- wherein at least one of the base cap teeth opening faces and the cover cap teeth opening faces are sloped from vertical to enable the opening faces of the base cap teeth and cover cap teeth to slide over one another in the absence of the predetermined downward force.
6 more elements
A child-resistant container closure comprising:
- a base cap having a top and a skirt depending downwardly from the top, the skirt including a plurality of asymmetric teeth formed in an outer wall of the skirt and recessed below the top, internal threads for engaging a neck of the container, and a bottom end, each of the teeth having a closing face sloped about 20 degrees from vertical, an opening face sloped about 30 degrees from vertical, and a sliding face disposed between the closing face and the sliding face and sloped about 6 degrees from horizontal, a junction between the closing face and the sliding face being disposed above a junction between the opening face and the sliding face;
- and
- a cover cap having a top and a skirt depending downwardly from the top, the top including a plurality of asymmetrical downwardly extending teeth adapted for asymmetric engagement with the upwardly extending base cap teeth, the skirt having bottom end, an inwardly protruding raised ridge for centering the cover cap on the base cap, and a support ring protruding radially inwardly from the bottom end to engage with a ridge protruding radially outwardly from the bottom end of the base cap skirt to inhibit removal of the cover cap from the base cap, each of the cover cap teeth having a closing face sloped about vertical, an opening face sloped about 45 degrees from vertical, and a sliding face disposed between the closing face and the sliding face and sloped about horizontal;
- wherein when the cover cap is rotated in a first direction, the cover cap teeth positively engage the base cap teeth to cause the base cap to rotate along with the cover cap in the first direction;
- wherein when the cover cap is rotated in a second direction in combination with a predetermined downward force urging the cover cap top toward the base cap top, the cover cap teeth positively engage the base cap teeth to cause the base cap to rotate along with the cover cap in the second direction, the slope of the sliding faces of the base cap teeth ensuring that one of the cover cap teeth will drop into a notch between adjacent base cap teeth when the cover cap is rotated in the second direction;
- and
- wherein when the cover cap is rotated in the second direction in the absence of the predetermined downward force, base cap remains nonrotating and the cover cap teeth slidably engage with the base cap teeth causing an audible clicking sound as pairs of teeth jump from one sliding engagement to another.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.