Tethered Hinged Closure That Stays Open After First Opening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing container closures do not effectively maintain an open position after initial opening, leading to user interference and inconvenience during consumption.
Innovation Solution
A closure design featuring a top panel, cylindrical wall, retention band, and frangible members that provide a visual indication of opening, along with tethers and lines of weakness to allow the cap to remain displaced from the container opening, utilizing injection molding for construction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the cap is designed to remain displaced from the container opening after initial opening, then the cap maintains an open position without user interference, but the closure structure becomes more complex with additional tethers and lines of weakness
Solution Approach 1:
The closure is divided into multiple functional segments: a cap body, a retention band, tethers connecting them, and lines of weakness that allow controlled separation. This segmentation enables the cap to remain displaced from the container opening after initial opening, maintaining an open position without requiring continuous user interference while managing the complexity through modular functional elements.
Solution Approach 2:
Tethers act as intermediary elements between the cap body and retention band, allowing the cap to maintain a displaced position from the container opening. These intermediary structures enable the cap to remain open without direct user interference while providing the necessary connection to maintain the open state, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and device complexity.
2Loss of information
If frangible members are used to provide visual indication of opening, then user awareness of consumption status is improved, but the closure structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
Frangible members are designed to change their visual appearance (color or transparency) when broken, providing clear visual indication to the user that the container has been opened and is being consumed. This visual feedback mechanism eliminates information loss about consumption status while the frangible members themselves remain an integrated part of the closure structure, minimizing the increase in complexity.
3Ease of operation
If the cap is maintained in an open position after opening, then user interference is reduced, but the seal reliability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The closure is pre-configured with tethers and lines of weakness that automatically maintain the cap in an open position after initial opening. This preliminary arrangement eliminates the need for continuous user interference to keep the cap open, while the retention band and seal formations are designed to maintain seal reliability even in the displaced open position, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A closure includes a cap having a top wall and a skirt perpendicular to the top wall and extending downwardly from the top wall to a lower edge. The skirt includes an inner surface having a sealing formation. A band is concentric with and attached to the lower edge of the skirt by a plurality of frangible members. A tab is formed at a hinge location from the band and extending from the lower edge of the skirt to one or more lines of weakness.