Child-Resistant Container With Bend Line Opening Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for containers that combine recloseability, transparency for product inspection, and child-resistant features to prevent unauthorized access, especially for perishable food products.
Innovation Solution
A child-resistant container design featuring a lid with a peripheral flange and a base with a bend line and tamper-evident hinge, which includes a frangible section for indicating tampering, along with a retaining projection and bead to secure the lid, creating a mechanism that requires deliberate action to open, while allowing consumers to easily access the contents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a simple lid and base structure is used, then manufacturing cost and device complexity are reduced, but child-resistant functionality is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The container is divided into distinct functional segments: a lid with peripheral flange and lifting tab, a base with skirt and bend line, and a tamper-evident hinge with frangible section. Each segment performs a specific function while maintaining overall simplicity. The segmentation allows independent manufacturing of each part and assembly into a child-resistant system without requiring complex integrated components.
Solution Approach 2:
The opening mechanism inverts the traditional approach by requiring the user to bend the base outward to access the lifting tab, rather than lifting the lid directly. This inversion creates a child-resistant barrier while maintaining simple construction. The frangible section also inverts the expectation by providing visual evidence of tampering through breakage rather than through complex locking mechanisms.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a child-resistant opening mechanism is implemented, then child safety is improved, but ease of operation for consumers is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The container incorporates dynamic elements that adapt to user interaction: the bend line allows the base to flex outward dynamically during opening, and the frangible section breaks dynamically upon tampering attempts. These dynamic features provide child safety through movement and change rather than through static complex mechanisms, maintaining ease of operation for intended users.
Solution Approach 2:
The container performs part of its child-resistant function automatically through its structure: the bend line and lifting tab configuration automatically prevents children from accessing contents without requiring them to understand or operate complex mechanisms. Adults can easily operate it by simply pulling the lifting tab after bending the base, making the system self-explanatory and easy to use.
3Loss of information
If clear see-through plastic is used for the container, then product visibility and consumer inspection are improved, but tamper evidence and child resistance are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds a new dimension to tamper evidence by incorporating a frangible section that provides visual indication of tampering through breakage. This dimensional addition works independently of the container's transparency, allowing the container to simultaneously provide product visibility through clear plastic and tamper evidence through the frangible section's breakage pattern.
Solution Approach 2:
The container uses composite structural elements combining clear plastic for visibility with integrated tamper-evident features. The frangible section and bend line are formed as integral parts of the clear plastic structure, creating a composite system that maintains transparency while incorporating tamper evidence functionality through design rather than through separate opaque materials.
Data Source
AI summary
A child-resistant container includes a lid and a base. The lid includes a peripheral flange that defines a lifting tab. The base includes an upper peripheral rim. A skirt extends downwardly from the upper peripheral rim to a lower edge thereof. A bend line extends between two adjacent sides of the base to define a corner portion of the base that accommodates the lifting tab when the container is closed forming a child-resistant opening mechanism. The bend line facilitates bending of the corner portion of the base to gain access to the lifting tab.