Patents by Inventor Maurice R. Gnepper

Maurice R. Gnepper has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8579140
    Abstract: A child-resistant dispensing closure for a container may include one or the other or both of a dispensing cover non-removably securable to a container, or an outer cover non-removably securable and rotatable with respect to the inner cover and cooperable with the dispensing cover to render the closure child-resistant. According to another embodiment, an outer cover may include a flange to aid users in pushing and turning the outer cover with their fingers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Rexam Healthcare Packaging Inc.
    Inventors: Donald Paul Delagrange, Philip D. Bourgeois, Gregory A. Geisinger, Maurice R. Gnepper, Darin M. Pugne
  • Patent number: 8132684
    Abstract: A closure includes a skirt and internal lugs on the skirt. The skirt has an undulating circumferential contour that includes alternate outwardly convex and outwardly concave portions, with the internal lugs being disposed within the outwardly concave portions of the skirt. The skirt preferably is sufficiently flexible to allow the outwardly concave portions of the skirt to assume an outwardly convex geometry as a result of outward pressure on the internal lugs during demolding of the closure. The closure thus may be simply axially stripped from the mold core during the demolding operation without requiring movement of portions of the mold core to clear a path for travel of the lugs. The lugs preferably are shaped as an inverted U that opens toward a free edge of the skirt, further to facilitate demolding of the closure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Rexam Prescription Products Inc.
    Inventors: Maurice R. Gnepper, John M. Shingle
  • Patent number: 8091709
    Abstract: A child-resistant package includes a rectangular tray having a pair of sidewalls, a pair of laterally opposed spring arms extending from the sidewalls, a finger tab on each spring arm and a locking lug adjacent to each finger tab. A rectangular shell has an open front end, a pair of sidewalls, a slot extending longitudinally along each of the sidewalls and terminating short of the open front end of the shell, and a locking pocket extending from each slot at a position spaced from the open end of the shell. The tray is slidably received in the shell with the spring arms interiorly adjacent to the shell sidewalls and the finger tabs slidably received in the slots. The locking lugs on the finger tabs are resiliently receivable in the locking pockets on the shell sidewalls in the closed position of the tray within the shell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Rexam Healthcare Packaging Inc.
    Inventor: Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Patent number: 7975862
    Abstract: A child-resistant package includes a housing having an internal volume for holding items to be dispensed, a cylindrical neck, an end wall on the neck and a dispensing opening in the end wall. A closure has an end wall with a dispensing opening and a skirt. One of the skirt and the neck, preferably the neck, has a channel and the other of the skirt and the neck, preferably the skirt, has a bead for receipt in the channel such that the closure is rotatable on the neck for selectively aligning the dispensing openings to dispense items from within the housing. A child resistance mechanism between the closure and the neck resists rotation of the closure on the neck. The end wall of the closure preferably includes a dosage window, and a disk preferably is disposed between the closure and the end wall of the neck having dosage indicia viewable through the dosage window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Rexam Healthcare Packaging Inc.
    Inventor: Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Patent number: 7922017
    Abstract: A child-resistant package includes a container having an open mouth, a conical external surface around the open mouth that widens away from the mouth and a wall extending from the conical external surface. A closure has a base wall, and a peripheral skirt having a first portion adjacent to the base wall and a second portion removably connected to the first portion. An annular first wall extends from the base wall at a position radially inward from the skirt for spring/sealing engagement with the conical external surface of the container. A second wall extends from the base wall at a position radially inward from the first wall and, preferably, at an outward conical angle to the base wall. The second portion of the skirt and the wall on the container have interlocking elements that resist removal of the closure from the container in a child-resistant mode of operation absent a force against the first wall to disengage the interlocking elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignee: Rexam Prescription Products Inc.
    Inventors: John M. Shingle, Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Patent number: 7874440
    Abstract: A child-resistant package includes first and second elements having base walls with rectangular peripheries, continuous peripheral walls extending around the peripheries, locking projections or tabs on opposed sections of the peripheral walls, and cylindrical walls extending from the base walls within the peripheral walls and having thread segments. The second element is threadable onto the first element to bring the peripheral walls into aligned abutment and the locking tabs into engagement with the locking projections to resist unthreading of the elements. The peripheral wall of the second element is inwardly flexible and resilient adjacent to the locking tabs to permit manual movement of the locking tabs inward from the locking projections so that the elements can be unthreaded from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2011
    Assignee: Rexam Healthcare Packaging Inc.
    Inventor: Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Patent number: 7832577
    Abstract: A package having child-resistant and non-child-resistant modes of operation includes a container having a neck finish with an open end, an external surface surrounding the open end and at least one external first engagement element spaced from the open end. A closure has a base portion, a skirt extending from the base portion, and at least one internal second engagement element on the skirt for engagement with the external first engagement element on the container neck finish in a child-resistant mode of operation. The skirt containing the second engagement element is severable from the base portion of the closure to convert the closure from a child-resistant mode of operation to a non-child-resistant mode of operation. A first annular element within the skirt is disposed for engagement with the external surface on the container neck finish to seal the package in the child-resistant mode of operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Assignee: Rexam Prescription Products Inc.
    Inventors: John M. Shingle, Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Publication number: 20100147732
    Abstract: A child-resistant dispensing closure for a container may include one or the other or both of a dispensing cover non-removably securable to a container, or an outer cover non-removably securable and rotatable with respect to the inner cover and cooperable with the dispensing cover to render the closure child-resistant. According to another embodiment, an outer cover may include a flange to aid users in pushing and turning the outer cover with their fingers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2008
    Publication date: June 17, 2010
    Inventors: Donald Paul Delagrange, Philip D. Bourgeois, Gregory A. Geisinger, Maurice R. Gnepper, Darin M. Pugne
  • Patent number: 7611026
    Abstract: A plastic closure includes a plastic closure shell having a base wall with a central opening, a skirt for securing the closure to a container neck finish, and an internal ledge on the skirt adjacent to but spaced from the base wall. A plastic disk is retained within the closure shell. The disk includes a plurality of axially extending spacer elements, preferably in the form of angularly spaced circumferentially aligned bead segments around a peripheral portion of the disk, to engage an underside of the base wall and space the disk from the base wall of the shell. Angular gaps between the spacer elements permit flow of fluid from the central opening, between the base wall and the disk and through the gaps. A periphery of the disk is disposed between the internal ledge on the skirt and the base wall of the shell to capture the disk such that the disk is free to rotate within the shell. A resilient sealing liner is molded onto an underside of the disk for sealing engagement with the container neck finish.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2009
    Assignee: Rexam Closure Systems Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth S. Bloom, Stephen A. Eilertson, Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Patent number: 7581656
    Abstract: A container includes a container base and a lid interconnected by a hinge and being of one-piece integrally molded plastic construction. The container base is of generally rectangular outline having a back wall to which the hinge is connected, a front wall, opposite sidewalls and an open end. The front wall is connected to the back wall opposite the open end by a continuously curving end wall so that the front wall, the back wall and the continuously curving end wall form a continuous surface for application of a label to the front wall, the back wall and the continuously curving end wall. The sidewalls have flat coplanar edges opposite the open end to permit the container to be stood on end with the open end facing upwardly. The container preferably includes a child-resistant latch having a first latch element on the lid opposite the hinge and a second latch element on the front wall of the container ban adjacent to the open end and opposite the hinge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2009
    Assignee: Rexam Prescription Products Inc.
    Inventors: Maurice R. Gnepper, John M. Shingle
  • Publication number: 20080245796
    Abstract: A child-resistant package includes a housing having an internal volume for holding items to be dispensed, a cylindrical neck, an end wall on the neck and a dispensing opening in the end wall. A closure has an end wall with a dispensing opening and a skirt. One of the skirt and the neck, preferably the neck, has a channel and the other of the skirt and the neck, preferably the skirt, has a bead for receipt in the channel such that the closure is rotatable on the neck for selectively aligning the dispensing openings to dispense items from within the housing. A child resistance mechanism between the closure and the neck resists rotation of the closure on the neck. The end wall of the closure preferably includes a dosage window, and a disk preferably is disposed between the closure and the end wall of the neck having dosage indicia viewable through the dosage window.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 5, 2007
    Publication date: October 9, 2008
    Inventor: Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Publication number: 20080011761
    Abstract: A container includes a container base and a lid interconnected by a hinge and being of one-piece integrally molded plastic construction. The container base is of generally rectangular outline having a back wall to which the hinge is connected, a front wall, opposite sidewalls and an open end. The front wall is connected to the back wall opposite the open end by a continuously curving end wall so that the front wall, the back wall and the continuously curving end wall form a continuous surface for application of a label to the front wall, the back wall and the continuously curving end wall. The sidewalls have flat coplanar edges opposite the open end to permit the container to be stood on end with the open end facing upwardly. The container preferably includes a child-resistant latch having a first latch element on the lid opposite the hinge and a second latch element on the front wall of the container ban adjacent to the open end and opposite the hinge.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 17, 2006
    Publication date: January 17, 2008
    Inventors: Maurice R. Gnepper, John M. Shingle
  • Publication number: 20070284277
    Abstract: A child-resistant package includes a rectangular tray having a pair of sidewalls, a pair of laterally opposed spring arms extending from the sidewalls, a finger tab on each spring arm and a locking lug adjacent to each finger tab. A rectangular shell has an open front end, a pair of sidewalls, a slot extending longitudinally along each of the sidewalls and terminating short of the open front end of the shell, and a locking pocket extending from each slot at a position spaced from the open end of the shell. The tray is slidably received in the shell with the spring arms interiorly adjacent to the shell sidewalls and the finger tabs slidably received in the slots. The locking lugs on the finger tabs are resiliently receivable in the locking pockets on the shell sidewalls in the closed position of the tray within the shell.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2006
    Publication date: December 13, 2007
    Inventor: Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Publication number: 20070284372
    Abstract: A child-resistant package includes a first element having a base wall with a rectangular periphery, a continuous peripheral wall extending around such periphery, at least a pair of locking projections internally disposed on opposed sections of the peripheral wall, and a cylindrical wall extending from the base wall within the peripheral wall and having at least one first thread segment. A second element has a base wall with a rectangular periphery and a continuous peripheral wall extending around the periphery, a pair of locking tabs centrally extending from opposed sections of the peripheral wall, and a cylindrical wall extending from the base wall within the peripheral wall and having at least one second thread segment. The second element is threadable onto the first element by means of the cylindrical walls and the first and second thread segments to bring the peripheral walls into aligned abutment and the locking tabs into engagement with the locking projections to resist unthreading of the elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2006
    Publication date: December 13, 2007
    Inventor: Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Patent number: 6880736
    Abstract: A dispensing closure includes a closure base having a base wall, a skirt with an axis and at least one internal thread or bead for securing the closure to a container finish. A deck is raised with respect to the closure base wall and has an arcuate convex external surface at an angle to the axis of the skirt to prevent the puddling of moisture on the upper or external surface of the deck. A dispensing opening is disposed in the deck, and a lid is integrally connected to the closure base by at least one hinge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2005
    Assignee: Owens-Illinois Closure Inc.
    Inventor: Maurice R. Gnepper
  • Patent number: 6170720
    Abstract: A closure for a fluid product dispensing package that includes a tubular body for securement to a container, and having a central flow passage and a cylindrical peg axially spaced from the flow passage. A spout has a dispensing orifice, and is mounted on the base for movement between an open position in which the dispensing orifice is axially spaced from the peg to permit product flow through the passage around the peg and through the orifice, and a closed position in which the dispensing orifice closely surrounds the peg to block product flow. The dispensing orifice is circular, and has three angularly spaced recesses extending radially outwardly from and arcuately around the opening forming air vents with the peg in the closed position of the spout.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2001
    Assignee: Owens-Illinois Closure Inc.
    Inventors: Maurice R. Gnepper, Thomas A. Kozlowski