CHILD PROOF BOTTLE TOP

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32386, 27 August 1970, Page 8

CHILD PROOF BOTTLE TOP

Earlier this year and for the second time within six months the New Zealand Packaging Journal used its front page to highlight the dangers to young children from accidental poisoning, and to promote measures to reduce the >hazard.

The first report expressed alarm at the additional hazard created by a new household disinfectant, which is not only lemon-coloured but lemon-scented and could easily be mistaken for a cordial by a toddler. The journal’s concern received strong support when its article was later referred to the Health Department.

In its second article, New Zealand Packaging was able to promote a positive move to reduce the dangers, by supporting the marketing of a childproof bottle top—or closure, as it is known in the trade.

Commenting that there is world-wide concern at the increasing number of children who are accidentally poisoned each year and that New Zealand is no less concerned than any other country the journal commends Plastic Products, Ltd, of Hamilton, for producing the first locally-made safety cap. Like many another invention, says the article, this one evolved almost accidentally. Two screw bottle tops stuck one inside the other gave two part-time Wanganui inventors the basic idea for a child-proof bottle cap whicb is now attracting the interest of manufacturers in New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

The design has been warmly praised by health authorities here, who see in it a chance to reduce the toll of child poisonings.

Mr Gavin Park, Wanganui pharmacist, and his friend, Mr Claudio Petrdnelli, spent 12 months developing and refining their idea, which is in commercial production at the factory of Plastic Products. Mr Park says the cap has many advantages over its few overseas competitors. It is much simpler to use, he feels. It can be fitted by machinery after the normal filling process; it is cheaper and can be used on contaitiers holding potentially dangerous liquids or solids. Outer Sleeve The cap consists of a movable outer sleeve fitted around the cap proper. The cap sere" s on the bottle m the normal manner but to remove it you must both lift the outer sleeve and twist the cap in the same movement. If the sleeve is not lifted, it continues to turn loosely about the cap which stays firm. The deceptiveness of the cap was shown in tests at Wanganui Hospital. When a bottle fitted with a “Curly Lock” as the inventors have called it, was handed to each of the patients in the hospital’s children’s ward, it was found that no child under six could open it. In fact, only a few of those older than this had any sue-, cess, either. The “Curly Lock” is only coming on to the market after exhaustive testing to substantiate the inventors claims for its efficacy. A trial batch of several dozen of the tops was made by Plastic Products for thorough tests to seek Health Department apseveral New Zealand manufacturers have shown considerable interest in the cap and one major manufacturer of disinfectants and other chemical products has discussed an initial order of several million. The fact that inquiries have also lieen received from Australian and Canadian manufacturers before the cap is on the market shows that the Curly Lock is likely to stand up to comparison with overseas types of safety cap. Mr Park and Mr Petronelli, who 4 h®ve Pilous inventions to their credit, have formed a company, Discovery Enterprises, which has applied for world patents on the cap under the Curly Lock trade name. However, when Mr Petronelli presented the original design tn Plastic Products, that was merely the begin-

ning of many hours of research and experiment for PP. The Wanganui inventor handed over a crude metal prototype on which the PP design engineers based their efforts to evolve an all plastic closure.

“To begin'with, we went off on a bit of a tangent,” says Mr Lee Dymock, design estimating supervisor at PP. “The original design, which we hand-machined in plastic, called for an outer cap to be fitted and held while the inner was screwed on.

“This was a little difficult to accomplish. A more natural motion was to push the outer cap down—a suggestion made by Mr Petronelli after he had checked out the first model with Dunedin authorities. We had a rethink on the design and found it necessary to introduce another set of drive teeth.” The Mark II model has a polypropylene iniier cap and an ABS outer. The reason for the two types of plastic is to give a more rigid feel to the outer ring while an additional benefit is the improved wear characteristics of the teeth. With the original double cap design and the need for clearance between the two, PP engineers felt the closure was looking rather large and cumbersome. Improvement “This is where Gary Brown, our product designer, did a really excellent job," says Mr Dymock. “He evolved the final design, thinning the materials down and narrowing tolerances so that the twin cap now looks attractive and reasonably slim.”

Two prototype tools were produced and after exhaustive testing and production trials, a batch of closures was made for submission to the National Poison Infor-

mation Centre and to health authorities for their evaluation and approval which has now been given. Compared with the simple act of unscrewing a threaded

cap, safety closure designs now on the U.S. market—or imminent—demand a series | of manoeuvres, though no one design is very difficult to fathom. The problem lies in sheer variety. Some must be simultaneously pushed in and turned. Others must be squeezed and turned. One newcomer pulls up and pops off. Two-piece designs generally require that one section be held immobile while the other is rotated. Since nearly all the closures are of injectionmoulded plastic with small moulded-in lettering, consumers may be confused by conflicting instructions. i Startling Drop There is no arguing with an impressive decline in child poisonings—as much as a 90 per cent drop in some limited tests—when I safety closures replace standard screw caps on drug containers. Whether the closures I would be as effective on I household products is the question. Medicine-taking is generally a thoughtful I ritual, but a busy mother trying to clean her home with a variety of products and closures can be distracted. As the Curly Lock comes on to the consumer market, perhaps the Health Department will support it with a strong, vigorous campaign for more care in the home. A TV programme sponsored by companies using the Curly Lock to show the | importance of care with drugs and chemicals could! be considered. As Modem Packaging points out, “convenience” has been the universal packaging objective. Perhaps in this field it has been too well achieved. ‘-‘We’ve struggled for years to make our products easier to open,” says one supplier ruefully. “Now we I must do an abrupt aboutface.”