Modular Glass Child-Resistant Container With Squeeze-Lift Cap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing child-resistant containers are difficult for elderly or disabled individuals to open and often fail to protect contents from environmental degradation, and lack features for efficient inventory management.
Innovation Solution
A child-resistant container design featuring a symmetrical, polygonal base with cap engagement mechanisms and a deformable cap, made from materials like glass and polymer, providing air-tight, liquid-tight, and light-resistant properties, with modular stacking capabilities and inventory management features.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a screw-cap or pop-top closure is used for child resistance, then child-resistant features are improved, but ease of operation deteriorates for elderly or disabled individuals
Solution Approach 1:
The cap is divided into a cap body and a separate liner that can be independently removed. The liner can be easily pulled out by elderly or disabled individuals without requiring the complex twisting motion needed for traditional screw caps, while the cap body remains securely attached to provide child-resistant features.
Solution Approach 2:
The liner is extracted as a separate component that can be easily removed from the cap body. This extraction mechanism allows elderly or disabled individuals to access contents without needing to overcome the child-resistant engagement features of the cap body, effectively separating the child-protection function from the ease-of-opening function.
2Reliability
If traditional child-resistant containers are designed, then child resistance is improved, but protection from environmental degradation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The container uses a composite structure with a glass base providing environmental protection and a polymer cap providing child-resistant features. The glass base is specifically designed to protect contents from light, moisture, and temperature, while the polymer cap with its engagement mechanisms provides child resistance. This composite approach allows each material to excel at its primary function.
Solution Approach 2:
The glass base is pre-formed with features that protect against environmental degradation before the cap is even attached. The glass material itself provides inherent protection from light, moisture, and temperature effects, establishing environmental protection as a preliminary and permanent feature of the container design.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional container shapes are used, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but inventory management efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The container base is designed with an asymmetric polygonal shape (such as square or rectangular with rounded corners) rather than a traditional cylindrical shape. This asymmetric geometry enables efficient stacking, sorting, and storage in automated inventory systems while still being manufacturable using standard molding techniques. The flat sides and defined edges facilitate proper alignment and stacking in automated handling equipment.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are child-resistant containers. Also disclosed are methods using the modular containers and methods of storing substances in containers. The containers have a glass base and a plastic cap and provide for child-resistant containers. A user can releasably remove the cap from base with a squeeze and lift sequence on the sides of the cap. For example, the user squeezes opposite sides of the container cap, which releases a locking mechanism and allows for removal of the cap by lifting or pulling the container cap off from the container base. The containers are modular and stackable.