Rotational Cap Assembly with Tactile Feedback Seal
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing assemblies for dispensing adhesives and sealants lack user-friendly mechanisms for ensuring secure closure and easy handling, often relying on complex connections that do not provide clear feedback on the cap's position or risk damage from incorrect operation.
Innovation Solution
A container and cap assembly with connection regions designed for rotational engagement, featuring a cap with an inner chamber and a container with a cover face and edge that provide audible and tactile feedback upon secure closure, utilizing resilient materials and a bayonet-like design with a stop to prevent over-rotation and ensure a tight seal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a threaded connection or bayonet connection is used to connect the cap to the container, then the connection strength is improved, but the user cannot easily determine when the cap has reached the correct closed position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by designing the cap and container with complementary geometric features (square cross-sections with oriented flat surfaces) that create distinct tactile and audible feedback when the cap reaches the correct rotational position. The flat surface of the cap engages with a corresponding flat surface on the container, creating a detectable stop that indicates proper closure without requiring complex sensing mechanisms.
2Ease of manufacture
If a simple cap design is used to cover the nozzle, then the ease of manufacture is improved, but the seal reliability is insufficient to prevent contamination and drying out
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs curved or conical sealing surfaces where the cap's opening surface and the container's closing surface are designed with complementary curvature. This geometric design creates a reliable seal through surface contact that prevents contamination and drying out, while maintaining simplicity in manufacturing as the curved surfaces can be formed using standard molding techniques.
3Ease of operation
If a resilient material is used for the cap or container to provide snap action feedback, then the ease of operation is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases due to material selection requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by selecting resilient materials with specific elastic properties that enable the snap-action feedback mechanism. The material's elasticity allows the cap to deflect during engagement and then snap into the locked position, providing clear tactile feedback to the user. This approach maintains relative simplicity by using material property changes rather than complex mechanical mechanisms.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The assembly provides clear feedback to the user upon secure closure, preventing contamination and drying out of the substance, while being easy to handle and resistant to incorrect operation, ensuring a secure and tight seal.
Implementation Method 1
The cap and/or the container can be made, at least in regions, of a resilient material, which is put under tension when the end face is pressed against the cover face and the tension of which is released when the cap reaches and passes over the cover edge
Data Source
AI summary
An assembly consisting of a container (1) having a nozzle (17) for dispensing a substance contained in the container (1), and a cap (19) for covering the nozzle (17), the container having a first connection region (14) which can be connected to a corresponding second connection region (25) of the cap (19), the connection regions (14, 25) being selected such that the container (1) and the cap (19) are connected at least partially by a rotational movement of the container (1) and the cap (19) relative to one another, the cap (19) having an inner chamber (20) surrounded by a casing (22), which chamber is open at one end so as to receive the nozzle (17), the casing (22) having an end face (21) at its open end, and the container (1) having a cover face (12) which points toward the cap and has a cover edge (11), the connection regions (14, 25) being selected and the end face (21) being adapted to the cover face (12) and the cover edge (11) thereof such that, when the container (1) and the cap (19) are connected, the end face (21) comes into contact with the cover face (12) when the cap (19) is in a first intermediate position and, when the container (1) and the cap (19) are rotated further relative to one another, the end face (21) is pressed against the cover face (12) and the cap (19) ultimately reaches a second end position, the end face (21) passing over the cover edge (11).