Dispensing Cap With Rotating Ring And Hinged Top
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing child-resistant caps are either insufficiently secure for preventing children from accessing hazardous items or excessively difficult for older adults to open, and conventional flip-top caps lack an effective child-resistant design.
Innovation Solution
A dispensing cap design featuring a closure with a pivotable top and a rotatable ring that requires specific alignment and pressure application to open, incorporating features like notches, projections, and flexible areas to prevent unauthorized access, ensuring the cap can only be opened with deliberate alignment and pressure application using two hands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a conventional flip-top cap is used, then ease of operation is improved, but child resistance is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The cap is divided into multiple functional components: a base, a rotatable ring with notches, and a top with projections. The ring can rotate independently to align notches with projections, creating segmented locking positions that prevent accidental opening while allowing intentional opening when aligned
Solution Approach 2:
The ring is designed to be rotatable relative to the base, creating dynamic locking positions. The notches in the ring can align with projections on the top at specific rotational positions, providing dynamic control over when the cap can be opened. This rotational mechanism transforms a static cap into a dynamic system with multiple states
2Reliability
If a screw-on cap requires simultaneous push and turn, then child resistance is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates for older adults
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring a pushing motion to unlock, the invention uses a rotational motion of the ring to align notches with projections. The thumb depression on the base provides a pulling or lifting action point rather than a pushing point, inverting the conventional approach and making it more suitable for older adults with reduced hand strength
3Reliability
If a cap requires two-hand operation, then child resistance is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The ring serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides the rotational locking mechanism, contains the notches for alignment, and its flexible area provides tactile feedback and structural support. The thumb depression integrates with the base structure. By merging these functions into unified components rather than separate elements, the design achieves child resistance without excessive complexity
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 prevents children from opening the cap while allowing adults to easily access the contents by requiring alignment and pressure application, providing a secure and user-friendly child-resistant flip-top closure for containers holding liquids, powders, and solids.
Implementation Method 1
The second set of opposite wall sections comprises a flexible area and an inner wall including at least one projection extending inwardly. The top of the closure is pivotably opened from the closed position when the hinge is aligned with one of the notches in the first set of opposite wall sections and when compression is applied to the flexible area to disengage the at least one projection extending outwardly from the top from the at least one projection extending inwardly from the inner wall of the second set of opposite wall sections.
Data Source
AI summary
A dispensing cap including a closure having a top pivotably mounted to a base by a hinge. The closure is rotatably mounted to a ring. The top of the dispensing cap is opened only when the hinge is aligned with a notch formed in the ring and pressure is applied to flexible areas of the ring to disengage mating members of the ring and the top.