GB2304671A

GB2304671A - A container or closure formed with a recess

Info

Publication number: GB2304671A
Application number: GB9517928A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Witney Milner King
Original assignee: Beeson and Sons Ltd
Current assignee: Beeson and Sons Ltd
Priority date: 1995-09-01
Filing date: 1995-09-01
Publication date: 1997-03-26
Also published as: AU6834096A; GB9517928D0; WO1997009241A1

Abstract

A container or container/closure assembly is provided with a recess in the base of the container or in the top of the closure, a leaflet being retained within the recess. A container 1 comprises a neck 2 having means such a screw threads 3 to secure a closure 11 thereto, container walls and a base. A recess 7 at least 5 mm deep is provided in the base of the container, and an accordion-folded leaflet 8 is retained inside the recess. The leaflet may be glued in the recess and may have a flap or tab (9 figure 3) to assist unfolding. The recess and/or the container may have a substantially rectangular or square transverse cross-section. The recess may be provided with one or more inwardly projecting lips around its periphery to retain the leaflet. A shrink wrap film may be provided over the container and closure to provide tamper evidence. Formations 4, 14 and 15 provide a child resistant feature to the assembly.

Description

CONTAINER WITH RECESSED BASE The present invention relates to containers, and to container and closure assemblies, for the storage of medicines and the like.

One of the conventional retail formats for medicines such as tablets, capsules, caplets and the like is a glass or plastic container ("medicine bottle") having a closure cap.

Typically, the container and closure are provided with child-resistant anti-opening features, and are also provided with tamper-evident features such as tamper-evident rings and/or shrink-wrapped films.

A drawback of conventional medicine bottles is that the container must be made quite large to enable it to be gripped easily by the user (especially an arthritic or elderly user). Typically, a medicine bottle will have a capacity of 100cm3 or more, whereas it is often desired to sell quite few tablets in a standard container. As a result, a large part of the internal volume of retail containers of medicines may be taken up by dead space, sometimes filled with a cotton wool plug to stop the medicament rattling around. This is wasteful of materials, and also gives rise to a negative feeling among consumers, who think that they have paid for more than they received.

A second drawback of conventional medicine containers is that there is insufficient surface area on the outside of the container to carry all of the very detailed product information that is now needed to accompany the sale of any medicine. This problem is currently overcome by providing a separate product information leaflet that is packaged, together with the medicine container, in a carton. The use of a carton in addition to the container and leaflet is clearly wasteful of materials. Consumers resent paying for the extra packaging, and particularly object to the fact that such a large amount of packaging is used for, typically, a very small amount of medicine.

The present invention addresses the above-identified drawbacks of conventional medicine container and closure assemblies, and further provides related advantages.

The present invention provides a container for a product, said container comprising a neck having means to secure a closure thereto, walls and a base, and characterised in that a recess at least 5mm deep is provided in the base, a folded leaflet bearing product information being retained inside the recess.

The means to secure a closure on the neck preferably comprises a screw thread.

Preferably, the recess is at least lOmm deep, more preferably 10-15mm deep.

Preferably, the leaflet is glued to the base of the container inside the recess. In preferred embodiments, the leaflet is an elongate strip of paper having a width similar to the width of the recess and a plurality of transverse folds such that the leaflet is folded up in accordion fashion, with one end of the leaflet strip being glued to the base of the container inside the recess. This arrangement allows the leaflet to be unfolded, read and folded back inside the recess without detaching the leaflet from the container. Preferably, the leaflet is provided with a projecting flap or tab to assist removal of the leaflet from inside the recess.

Preferably, the recess in the base of the container is of rectangular transverse cross-section, more preferably square transverse cross-section. The recess may be provided with one or more radially inwardly projecting lips around its periphery to retain the leaflet inside the recess.

The walls of the container can define a container body of any shape, e.g. cylindrical. However, preferably, the walls of the container define a body portion of the container having substantially rectangular, more preferably square, transverse cross-section. This assists stacking and handling of the containers.

The present invention also provides a container and closure assembly comprising a container according to the invention and a closure secured to the container neck. Preferably, the assembly is further provided with a shrink-wrapped film extending over the container and the closure to provide a tamper-evident feature. The shrink-wrapped film preferably also extends over the recess in the base of the container and the leaflet retained therein.

The present invention further provides a container and closure assembly for a product, the assembly comprising a container and a closure cap, and characterised in that a recess at least about 5 mm deep is provided in the top of the cap, a folded leaflet bearing product information being retained inside the recess.

Preferred shapes, dimensions and other features of this container and closure assembly are as specified above for the assembly having the recess in the base of the container, mutatis mutandis.

Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fiaure 1 shows a side view of a container and closure assembly according to the invention, the lower part of the container being shown in section; Fissure 2 shows a bottom plan view of the container and closure assembly of figure 1; and Fiaure 3 shows a perspective view of the lower part ofthe container assembly of figures 1 and 2, showing a product information leaflet partially unfolded from the recess in the base of the container.

Referring to the drawings, the container 1 according to the present invention comprises a neck 2 having two-start i-turn parallel threads 3 thereon for securing a closure cap. Stop ribs 4 are also provided on the neck to cooperate with complementary stop formations on the closure cap so as to provide a child-resistant feature, as described further below.

The body of the container is made up of four side walls 5 defining a body of substantially square cross section. This assists gripping, handling and stacking of the container.

The base 6 of the container 1 is provided over most of its area with a square recess 7 approximately lcm deep. A leaflet 8 in the form of an elongate strip is folded up in zig-zag fashion, with one end of the leaflet glued to the base of the recess 7, and the other end of the leaflet folded back to form a pull tab 9.

The container and closure assembly according to the invention is further provided with a closure 11 with complementary two-start i-turn internal threads 12 for mating with the threads on the container neck. In addition, the closure 11 is provided with a resilient outer skirt 13, on which are stop formations 14 for engaging the stop ribs 4 on the container neck when the container is in its closed position on the container neck. The stop ribs 4 and stop formations 14 prevent unscrewing of the closure from the neck unless the resilient skirt 14 of the closure 11 is squeezed transversely at pressure pads 15 to deform the resilient skirt, thereby releasing the stop formations from the stop ribs. This provides a child-resistant feature to the assembly.Preferably, a printed, shrink-wrapped film (not shown) is provided over the whole container and closure assembly to function as a tamper-evident feature.

It can be seen that the provision of the recess in the base of the container according to the present invention reduces the dead space inside the container, and thereby improves customer perception of the filling of the container by relatively few tablets, capsules or the like. Moreover, the recess provides a convenient location for the product information leaflet, thereby removing the need for a separate carton to package the leaflet with the container.

The above embodiment has been described by way of example only. Many other embodiments falling within the scope of the present invention as defined in the accompanying claims will be apparent to the skilled reader.

In particular, the present invention is suitable for use in conjunction with any of the container and closure features described in our published patent applications WO91/18799, WO93/01098, W094/11267 and/or pending UK patent applications nos. 9507892.9 and 9503810.5, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Claims

1. A container for a product, said container comprising a neck having means to secure a closure thereto, walls and a base, and characterised in that a recess at least about 5mm deep is provided in the base, a folded leaflet bearing product information being retained inside the recess.

2. A container according to claim 1, wherein the recess is at least 10mm deep.

3. A container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the leaflet is glued to the base inside the recess.

4. A container according to claim 1,2 or 3, wherein the leaflet is provided with a projecting flap or tab to assist unfolding of the leaflet from the recess.

5. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the recess is of substantially rectangular transverse crosssection.

6. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the walls of the container define a body portion of the container having substantially rectangular transverse crosssection.

7. A container and closure assembly comprising a container according to any preceding claim and a closure secured to the container neck.

8. A container and closure assembly according to claim 7, further comprising a shrink-wrapped film over the container and the closure.

9. A container and closure assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. A container substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

11. A container and closure assembly for a product, the assembly comprising a container and a closure cap therefor, and characterized in that a recess at least about 5 mm deep is provided in the top of the cap, a folded leaflet bearing product information being retained inside the recess.