Child-Resistant Container Locking With Rotating Cap and Flexible Wall
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packages and containers lack effective mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access and ingestion of substances by children and the elderly, particularly those containing oral products like tobacco and cannabis.
Innovation Solution
A container design featuring a base with flexible regions and locking protrusions, a top cap that rotates between locked and unlocked configurations, and a bottom lid, ensuring complex motion requirements for opening, thereby enhancing child-resistant properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a simple opening mechanism is used, then ease of operation is improved, but child-resistant properties deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The container employs a dynamic locking mechanism where the top cap rotates between locked and unlocked positions. The flexible region dynamically changes shape during the opening process, requiring a specific sequence of motions (rotation followed by lifting) that is intuitive for adults but difficult for children to figure out.
Solution Approach 2:
The opening mechanism is segmented into distinct phases: rotating the top cap to an unlocked position, deflecting the flexible region, and lifting the cap off. This segmentation creates a multi-step process that is easy to learn but hard to guess, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and child resistance.
2Reliability
If a complex locking mechanism is used, then child-resistant properties are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The base side wall incorporates a flexible region made from flexible material that can be deflected radially inward. This flexible element replaces complex mechanical locks, springs, or electronic systems, achieving child-resistant properties through a simple, elegant flexible structure that integrates into the container wall itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking and opening mechanisms are merged with the container structure itself. The flexible region is part of the base side wall, and the locking protrusions are integrated into the cap and base, eliminating the need for separate locking components and reducing overall device complexity.
3Reliability
If locking protrusions are added, then security is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism uses changes in the physical state of the flexible region (from deflected to undeflected) to control the engagement of locking protrusions. When the flexible region is deflected, the locking protrusions align and engage; when undeflected, they disengage. This parameter-based control reduces the need for extremely precise manufacturing tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible region automatically controls the locking and unlocking process through its own deformation. As the user rotates and lifts the cap, the flexible region deflects and returns to its original shape, naturally guiding the locking protrusions into and out of engagement without requiring precision-controlled mechanical linkages.
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 design effectively reduces the risk of unauthorized access and ingestion by requiring complex motions, meeting child-resistant standards and ensuring secure containment of oral products.
Implementation Method 1
The base side wall may include a flexible region configured to deflect radially inward with respect to a remainder of the base side wall
Data Source
AI summary
A container including a removable top cap and a bottom lid. The top cap is configured to rotate about the base of the container from a locked position to an unlocked position. In an unlocked position side walls of the container may be deflected radially inward so that the top cap may be separated from the base of the container.