Flexible-Wall Container Lock Requiring Multi-Directional Opening Force
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing containers lack effective mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access by children and the elderly, particularly for substances like oral tobacco and cannabis products, which require complex motion and different force applications to open.
Innovation Solution
A container design featuring a base with a flexible peripheral wall and a lid with protrusions that engage in receptacles, allowing the container to transition between locked and open configurations through specific force applications, requiring a combination of forces in different directions to open.
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 safety is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The peripheral wall is designed as a flexible element that can dynamically change its state between relaxed and flexed positions. When forces are applied to opposite sides of the container, the wall flexes inward to create space for the protrusions to disengage from the receptacles, enabling the lid to be opened. This dynamic flexibility allows the system to transition from a locked secure state to an unlocked accessible state based on applied forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the spatial parameter of the peripheral wall by transitioning it between two distinct positions: relaxed (for locking) and flexed (for unlocking). This parameter change is triggered by applying forces in opposite directions to the wall, which alters the internal geometry to permit lid movement from the closed locked configuration to the open configuration.
2Reliability
If a flexible wall locking mechanism is used, then child safety is improved, but device complexity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is segmented into distinct functional components: the flexible peripheral wall, multiple protrusions on the lid, and corresponding receptacles in the base. Each protrusion can independently engage with its corresponding receptacle, and the system uses multiple discrete force application points on the peripheral wall. This segmentation allows the complex safety function to be achieved through simple, modular elements rather than a single complex mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible peripheral wall serves a dual function: it acts as both the structural boundary of the container and the actuating mechanism for the locking system. When forces are applied to the wall, it automatically flexes to trigger the disengagement of protrusions from receptacles, eliminating the need for separate actuators, springs, or complex linkage mechanisms. The wall itself performs the work of unlocking the lid.
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 provides a child-resistant mechanism that reduces the risk of accidental access to harmful substances by ensuring a complex opening motion, meeting safety standards and preventing unintended ingestion.
Implementation Method 1
at least a portion of the peripheral wall is configured to be moved from a relaxed position to a flexed position by applying a first force to a first portion of the peripheral wall in a first direction and a second force to a second portion of the peripheral wall in a second direction different than the first direction
Data Source
AI summary
A container includes a base and a lid movable between a closed and locked configuration and an open configuration The base includes a peripheral wall movable from a relaxed position to a flexed position by applying a first force to a first portion in a first direction and a second force to a second portion in a second direction. The lid defines a plurality of receptacles. In the closed and locked configuration, the protrusions are at least partially in the receptacles, the peripheral wall is in the relaxed position, and the protrusions are configured to engage the lid to retain the lid in the closed and locked configuration. The container is configured to be moved from the closed and locked configuration to the open configuration by moving the lid in a third direction different from the first and second directions while the peripheral wall is in the flexed position.