Child-Resistant Folding Box With Dual-Lock Lid
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current folding boxes lack sufficient child safety features, allowing children to unintentionally open packaging, particularly for items like detergent pods, as existing designs do not ensure that the packaging can only be opened by adults.
Innovation Solution
A folding box design that requires both locking devices to be unlocked simultaneously using two hands, featuring latching strips and tabs on the walls and lid, with a removable part that must be separated or pressed in to actuate the locking mechanism, ensuring secure closure and reclosure, and an inner box for added protection and separation of contents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional folding box designs are used, then ease of manufacture is maintained, but child safety and secure closure are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is divided into multiple independent locking tabs distributed around the lid perimeter, each engaging with corresponding slots in the box body. This segmentation allows the closing force to be distributed across multiple points, achieving secure child-resistant locking without requiring a single complex mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The folding box lid utilizes the user's own closing action to automatically engage the locking mechanism. When the lid is folded onto the box body, the locking tabs automatically snap into the slots through the folding motion itself, providing secure locking without requiring separate manual activation or complex additional mechanisms
2Reliability
If multiple locking tabs are provided for child safety, then reliability improves, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism transitions from a static fixed position to a dynamic engagement during the folding motion. The locking tabs are positioned to engage with slots during the natural folding trajectory, allowing the mechanism to adapt to the motion and force applied by the user, making operation intuitive despite multiple locking points
3Ease of operation
If the lid is hinged to allow reclosure, then ease of operation improves, but tamper evidence and security worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The perforated tear strip is pre-positioned on the lid in a location that must be torn away before the lid can be opened or reclosed. This preliminary action of tearing the strip provides immediate tamper evidence, while the hinged lid maintains full reclosure functionality for legitimate reuse of the packaging
Data Source
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AI summary
Folding box with a tamper-evident seal and a child-resistant closure or re-closure, comprising four walls (2, 5, 6, 8, 202, 205, 206, 208, 302, 305, 306, 308), a base (10, 11, 201, 211, 310, 311) and a lid (28), wherein a dispensing opening (317) is provided in the lid or in a wall (314) adjacent to the lid, which is covered by a flap (337) which is snapped to the folding box at at least two spaced-apart locations, or wherein the lid (28) has at least two, preferably at least three, wall projections (30, 35) which are oriented towards the walls (2, 5, 6, 8), and wherein at least one of the wall projections (30, 35) and one of the walls (2, 5, 6, 8) has a cooperating resting device (32, 33, 21, 22).