Child-Safe Packaging Drawer System with Safety Length Constraint
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current packaging systems fail to effectively prevent children from accessing contents due to their curiosity, as tamper-evident and tamper-resistant features can be breached by a child's size and efforts, lacking a design that utilizes this size advantage for enhanced safety.
Innovation Solution
A package system comprising a carton and drawer designed from a single sheet of material, with specific tab structures and folding mechanisms that utilize a child's size to prevent access, featuring a tamper-evident first tab and tamper-resistant second tab, where the drawer remains secure within the carton due to a safety length defined by a child's finger length, and additional tabs provide resistance to sliding motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional tamper-evident features like foil covering are used, then evidence of tampering is provided, but children can still breach the packaging due to their size and curiosity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the dimensional parameters of the packaging system by introducing a drawer mechanism with specific length relationships. The drawer length LD is designed to be less than the carton length LC, creating a safety length LS = LC - LD that corresponds to a child's finger length. This parameter change ensures that even if a child inserts their finger to breach the packaging, the drawer remains constrained within the carton and cannot be fully removed.
2Ease of manufacture
If simple packaging structures are used, then manufacturing is easier, but tamper resistance and child safety are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is segmented into distinct functional components: a carton structure and a drawer mechanism that slides within it. The drawer is further segmented into multiple panels (first drawer panel, second drawer panel, third drawer panel) connected by fold lines. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function while maintaining ease of manufacture from a single sheet of material, and provides tamper resistance through the constrained drawer mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The drawer is nested within the carton, with the drawer mechanism contained inside the carton structure. The second drawer panel specifically remains within the carton when the first drawer panel is spaced apart by the safety length. This nested configuration provides tamper resistance while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure that can be manufactured efficiently.
3Ease of operation
If the drawer can be easily accessed, then usability is improved, but child safety is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the packaging have different functional qualities. The first drawer panel is designed to be movable and accessible for normal use, while the second drawer panel remains constrained within the carton to prevent child access. The tab structure provides localized tamper evidence at specific points. This differentiation of local qualities allows easy access for adults while maintaining child safety.
Data Source
AI summary
A package system is provided. The package system comprises a carton having at least a first carton panel including a first tab having a first tab edge defined by internal walls of the first panel, a second carton panel opposing the first panel, and a third carton panel between the first carton panel and the second carton panel, the carton having a carton length that is defined as a first distance parallel to the third carton panel between the first carton panel and the second carton panel; and a drawer configured to slide into and out of an interior of the carton, the drawer having at least a first drawer panel opposing the first carton panel, a second drawer panel opposing the second carton panel, and a third drawer panel opposing the third carton panel, the third drawer panel adjoined between the first drawer panel and the second drawer panel.