Child-Resistant Container Lid With Lever Guard and Tear Strip
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing containers for hazardous materials, such as swimming pool chemicals, lack effective child-resistant mechanisms and perform poorly during transportation and testing, posing risks and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A container and lid design featuring a pivoting lid with retention hooks, a lift tab, and a tear strip, along with a lever guard and bumper system, which requires a specific sequence of actions to open, including pressing a lever guard to access a pull lever, lifting the lid, and disengaging retention hooks, to ensure secure closure and tamper evidence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a simple lid closure is used, then ease of operation is improved, but child resistance and security are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The closure system is divided into multiple functional components: a lid body, a hinge mechanism for pivoting, retention hooks for securing, a tear strip for evidence, a pull lever for actuation, and a lever guard for protection. Each component performs a specific function, collectively achieving both ease of operation for adults and child resistance by requiring a specific sequence of actions.
Solution Approach 2:
The lever guard is positioned to block access to the pull lever in its normal state, requiring the user to first press the lever guard to create access. This preliminary action ensures that children cannot accidentally or intentionally open the container, while adults can deliberately perform the sequence to open it safely.
2Reliability
If retention hooks are added to secure the lid, then child resistance is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The retention hooks are integrated into the lid body structure, and the tear strip is combined with the hinge mechanism. The pull lever is merged with the lever guard assembly. This merging reduces the number of separate components while maintaining the security function of the retention hooks, thereby reducing overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The tear strip acts as an intermediary element between the retention hooks and the hinge. When the pull lever is actuated, it triggers the tear strip to separate the retention hooks from the hinge, allowing the lid to open. This intermediary mechanism simplifies the overall closure system by providing a clear separation action without requiring complex release mechanisms.
3Reliability
If a tear strip is added for tamper evidence, then reliability is improved, but ease of manufacture is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The tear strip is designed as a simple, inexpensive component that can be easily manufactured and integrated into the lid. It serves its purpose of providing tamper evidence and can be disposed of or replaced without significant cost or complexity, making it an easy addition to the manufacturing process.
4Reliability
If a lever guard is added to block access, then child resistance is improved, but ease of operation is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The lever guard is designed to be dynamic rather than static - it can be pressed to change its position and create access to the pull lever. This dynamic behavior allows the system to adapt between two states: blocked (for child resistance) and unblocked (for ease of operation). The hinge mechanism also provides dynamic movement, allowing the lid to pivot open once the pull lever is actuated.
Data Source
AI summary
A container and lid includes: a container body having an opening; a lid body configured to cover the opening of the container body; a lid skirt at a periphery of the lid body, the lid skirt having a tooth slot therein; and a container tooth at a periphery of the container body configured to extend into the tooth slot of the lid skirt.