Tools – Receptacle closure remover – Combined or plural
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-16
2001-07-24
Morgan, Eileen P. (Department: 3723)
Tools
Receptacle closure remover
Combined or plural
C081S003440, C007S151000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06263761
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND—Field of Invention
This invention relates to bottle openers, specifically to an improved band-held tool for opening pill bottles.
BACKGROUND—Description of Prior Art
For reasons of safety, drug companies have been forced to sell their pills in bottles that are difficult to open. First, pill bottle caps are sealed by the companies to prevent tampering on the store shelves. Then, after these seals have been removed, pill bottles are required to have “child-proof” caps that make each opening of them difficult.
These “safety caps” make opening pill bottles especially difficult for older people. Ironically, this is the age group who must take the largest quantity of pills! Also, older people often have arthritis, or weaker fingers and hands in general. This further adds to the difficulty of opening pill bottles.
To complicate this problem more, drug companies have been very “creative” in the variety of “safety caps” they have devised. This variety of closures calls for a pill bottle opener that can assist the user in a several different modes. As the following will show, this invention describes a pill bottle opener that is unique in satisfying this requirement.
The prior art of existing openers have not met the users needs described above. Firstly, they are often designed to open types of bottles other than pill bottles. Therefore they lack the specific design features that pill bottle openers require. U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,024 to Bryant et al. is such an example. Even though it describes a three-way hand-held bottle opener, it is not well suited to opening the variety of closures of pill bottles.
Another example of this prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,894 to Roberts. Again this opener is better suited to opening beverage cans and bottles, but offers little application as a pill bottle opener.
Secondly, even though a device is designed as a pill bottle opener, it can lack the variety of features required to open the many types of pill bottles. U.S. Pat. Des. 286,734 to Furman is such an example. It shows a handle with a hooked blade for opening. Such a tool would cut and pry; but it lacks the pushing, clamping, and twisting functions required to open many pill bottles.
SUMMARY
The present invention comprises an opener that includes several functions in one tool capable of opening many styles of pill bottle caps and closures.
OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES
Besides the advantages of this patent that were introduced above, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
a) to provide a hand-held tool that will make it easy for the user to open a variety of pill bottle caps and closures;
b) to provide a mechanical advantage to the user so that the force exerted by his/her hand to the tool will exert a greater force on the bottle cap and therefore make opening the pill bottle much easier;
c) to provide the means in one simple tool so that the user will be able to easily remove a variety of seals that have been affixed to the pill bottle by the manufacturer to prevent tampering on the store shelves;
d) to provide in one device several different tool elements, each of which has a particular method of engaging a pill bottle cap, so as best to remove that particular cap;
e) to provide a tool that is simple in its appearance and in its function, so that the user will find its variety of uses obvious, and easy to understand and use;
f) to provide a tool that is safe and efficient for the user to operate;
g) to provide a tool that is relatively simple to design and produce, so that the manufacturer can bring the pill bottle opener to the market in a minimum amount of time and with a minimum amount of development and tooling expenses;
h) to provide a tool that is relatively inexpensive to produce so that the manufacturer can realize a profit while offering the pill bottle opener to the public at a reasonable price—which is especially important to senior citizens;
Further objects and advantages are to provide a pill bottle opener that can be produced in several different configurations so that the manufacturer can select the best configuration for his facility. Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 913336 (1909-02-01), Westerbeck
patent: 1361639 (1920-12-01), Stevenson
patent: 1605811 (1926-11-01), Danielson
patent: 2082699 (1937-06-01), Keppinger
patent: 2523544 (1950-09-01), Stamp
patent: 2729125 (1956-01-01), Krzanowski
patent: 2990213 (1961-06-01), Kolacinski
patent: 4179954 (1979-12-01), Whalen
patent: 4442735 (1984-04-01), Chance et al.
patent: 4509784 (1985-04-01), Vollers
patent: 5161435 (1992-11-01), Brannon
patent: 5655806 (1997-08-01), Halladay et al.
patent: 71129 (1927-12-01), None
Danganan Joni B.
Morgan Eileen P.
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