CHILD RESISTANT BLISTER PACKAGE

Abstract

A child resistant blister package is provided. The blister package comprises a blister card and a housing for containing the blister card. The blister card and the housing comprising a releasable restraining mechanism to restrict the exposure of the blister card through an opening of the housing.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The application relates generally to blister packaging and more particularly to a child resistant blister package

BACKGROUND OF THE ART

Blister packages such as push-through blister cards are a predominant form of packaging for pharmaceutical products such as tablets, capsules and pills. The contents of such blister packages can be dispensed relatively easily, sometimes even by children, by ejecting the contents through the sealing film of the blisters, or, removing the sealing film by peeling or tearing depending on the type of blister card. The danger of unsupervised consumption of drugs is undisputed. Small children are particularly exposed to this risk especially when drugs are left lying around or are otherwise accessible to them. Further, the bright colors often used for the contents of such blister cards can be attractive to children and make the contents of the blister cards have a candy appearance.

Accordingly, there is a need to provide an improved blister package with increased child resistance.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, there is provided a child resistant blister package comprising: a blister card having a plurality of blisters; and a housing for containing the blister card, the housing having an opening through which at least a portion of the blister card can be exposed to dispense contents from the blisters, the blister card and the housing comprising a releasable restraining mechanism having a plurality of locking positions corresponding to incremental level of withdrawal of the blister card from the housing, movement of the blister card from one locking position to a next locking position providing for sequential access to the blisters.

In a second aspect, there is provided a child resistant package for progressively dispensing content, the package comprising: a blister card having a plurality of blisters; and a housing for shielding the blisters on the blister card, the blister card and the housing being progressively movable relative to each other between a series of interlocking positions via a releasable restraining mechanism to sequentially position at least one blister of the blister card in a dispensing position.

In a third aspect, there is provided A method for sequentially dispensing contents from a child resistant package, the method comprising the steps of: a) providing a blister card having at least one portion that is shielded by and releasably restrained in a housing for sequential movement between a series of locking positions; b) releasing the blister card from a first locking position; c) displacing the blister card relative to the housing from the first locking position to a next locking position in which a portion of the blister card is exposed; and d) ejecting content from the exposed portion of the blister card.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference is now made to the accompanying figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a blister package according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are isometric views of the blister package of FIG. 1 showing a blister card having one and four blisters that are exposed respectively;

FIGS. 3A-3C are isometric views of the blister package of FIG. 1 showing a housing of the blister package in an unfolded state and showing various positions of the blister card relative to the housing; and

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a blister card.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B, a child resistant blister package according to one embodiment is shown generally at 10. The blister package 10 comprises a blister card 12 and a housing 14 for containing the blister card 12. The housing 14 has an opening 16 at one end thereof through which at least a portion of the blister card 12 can be pulled out and exposed to dispense contents. The blister card 12 and the housing 14 comprise a releasable restraining mechanism to restrict the exposure of the blister card 12 through the opening 16 of the housing 14.

The blister card 12 is of conventional construction and comprises a plurality of blisters or containers which are illustrated schematically at 18. The contents of blisters 18 on blister cards 12 are typically used for packaging pharmaceutical products such as tablets, capsules, pills, ampoules but may also be used to for packaging other products such as candy, chewing gum, lozenges or other relatively small items which are not shown.

Referring to FIGS. 3A-3B, the housing 14 is shown in an unfolded state and details of the restraining mechanism are illustrated. The housing 14 comprises a top wall having a two-layer construction. The top wall of the housing 14 includes an inner layer 20 and an outer layer 22. The inner layer 20 and the outer layer 22 can be secured together to form the two-layer construction of the top wall using an adhesive or other suitable means. The restraining mechanism comprises recesses 24A-24J that are formed in the inner layer 20 of the top wall and cooperating locking tabs 26 extending from the blister card 12. The locking tabs 26 can be integrally connected to the blister card 12 through a spring-loaded live hinge 27 biasing the locking tabs 26 in an angularly forwardly projecting position (see FIG. 3a). The recesses 24A-24J extend through the inner layer 20. The restraining mechanism also includes a release mechanism in the form of bypass flaps 28A-28J formed in the outer layer 22 of the top wall and associated with each of the recesses 24A-24J respectively.

During assembly of the blister package 10, the blister card 12 is simply inserted into the housing 14 by sliding the blister card 12 into the opening 16. FIG. 3A shows the blister card 12 being ready for insertion into the housing 14. The locking tabs 26 are disposed so as to be oriented towards the opening 16. This allows the locking tabs 26 to simply slide past and not become engaged with the recesses 24A-24J as the blister card 12 is inserted completely into the housing 14.

Once the blister card 12 has been fully inserted into the housing 14 as shown in FIG. 3B, the blister card 12 cannot be slid back out of the opening 16. The locking tabs 26 engage the recesses 24A and effectively prevent the blister card 12 from being pulled out of the housing 14. At this point, all of the blisters 18 on the blister card 12 are shielded by the housing and therefore the contents of the blister card 12 cannot be dispensed.

In order to dispense the contents of the blister card 12, the restraining mechanism must be released. The release mechanism is designed such as to provide access to only one blister 18 at a time, the blister position relative to the sleeve being locked each time a medicament or product is dispensed. Each bypass flap 28A-28J serves as a release mechanism associated to one particular blister 18 and comprises a frangible portion of the outer layer 22 of the top wall. The bypass flaps 28A-28J are outlined in the outer layer 22 of the top wall by tear lines which serve to weaken the outer layer 22 and facilitate piercing. The release mechanism is activated by sequentially depressing the bypass flaps 28A-28J to partially detach the bypass flaps 28A-28J from the outer layer 22 along the tear lines and thereby bending the bypass flaps 28A-28J into the housing 14. The process of depressing the bypass flaps 28A-28J is illustrated in FIG. 1 where bypass flaps 28A-28D have already been depressed and bypass flap 28E is in the process of being depressed by user 32 to unlock the blister card 12 relative to housing 14 and then allowing the blister card to be pulled out by one increment in order to provide access to the fifth blister 18. The depressing of the bypass flaps 28A-28J allows the locking tabs 26 to bypass the respective recesses 24A-24J and therefore not become engaged with the respective recesses 24A-24J as the blister card 12 is pulled out of the housing 14 along a sliding or pulling direction shown by arrow 30. In the illustrated embodiment, the opening 16 is disposed at a side of the housing 14 so as to progressively expose a larger portion of the blister card 12. However, it is apparent that the opening 16 could be formed in a top and bottom wall of the housing 14 where the blister card 12 would be slidable from one portion of the housing 14 to another portion of the housing 14 so as to sequentially expose a different portion of the blister card 12 and progressively dispense its contents.

In order to initiate the progressive/sequential dispensing of the contents of the blister card 12, both bypass flaps 28A must first be depressed. This allows the blister card 12 to be partially pulled out of the housing opening 16 by one increment so as to expose the first blister 18 as shown in FIG. 2A. At this point, one of the locking tabs 26 becomes engaged with the recess 24B as shown in FIG. 3C and the blister card 12 becomes once again restrained so as to prevent further pulling of the blister card 12 from the housing 14. The contents of the first exposed blister 18 may then be ejected by the user 32. The blister card 12 may be pushed back into the housing 14 but the blister card 12 is not permitted to be pulled out further from the housing 14 so as to expose the next blister 18.

The recesses 24A-24J are staggered along the sliding direction in order to serve as sequential stops at which the locking tabs 26 become engaged in order to restrict the exposure of the blister card 12. The blisters 18 of the blister card 12 are similarly axially staggered so that sliding of the blister card 12 in the housing 14 from one recess 24 to the next provides sequential access to one blister 18 at a time. Additional blisters 18 are progressively positioned in a dispensing position by sequentially depressing bypass flaps 28B-28J. Each bypass flap providing sequential access to a corresponding blister 18. FIG. 2B shows an exemplary situation where the bypass flaps 28A-28D (i.e. four bypass flaps) have been depressed to sequentially expose four blisters 18. Again, the blister card 12 may be pushed back into the housing 14 for storage until the contents of the next blister 18 must be dispensed. However, the blister card 12 could not be further pulled out before depressing the next bypass flap 28E.

The restraining mechanism increases the child resistance of the blister package 10 by requiring an additional step for dispensing the contents of the blister card 12. Essentially, the blister package 10 is configured such that its dispensing requires a combination of sequential steps or procedures which must be understood and require coordination. The additional step of depressing the bypass flaps 28A-28J in sequential order for progressively dispensing the contents of each blister 18 may not be apparent or intuitive to a young child. The blister package 10 is therefore more child-resistant while remaining relatively easy to dispense by the elderly for example.

As shown in FIG. 4, stability ridges 30 can be formed in the blister card 12 between the rows of blisters 18. Stability ridges 32 can also be provided in the flap portion connecting the locking tabs 26 to the blister card 12. A stopper 34 projects upwardly from the front face of the blister card 12 to limit the movement of the locking tabs 26 towards the front face of the blister card 12. The stopper can be provided in the form of a pair of protuberances integrally extending from the blister card 12 to prevent the locking tabs from collapsing against the front face of the blister card 12. Channels 36 are defined in the stopper 34 to accommodate the stability ridges 32 of the locking tabs 26.

It is apparent to one skilled in the art that the blister package 10 can be manufactured using conventional processes and suitable materials. For example, a blister card 12 of conventional construction can be used and the housing 14 can be made of a suitable paperboard such as those typically used for packaging such blister cards 12.

The above description is meant to be exemplary only, and one skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the scope of the invention disclosed. Even though two locking tabs are shown, it is apparent that the number of locking tabs 26 could be altered depending on the specific arrangement of the blisters 18 on the blister card 12 and the spacing between the stops. For example, a single locking tab 26 could be used for blister cards 12 having only one row of blisters. The spacing between recesses 24A-24J can be selected based on the desired amount of blister card 12 that is to be exposed between each stop. It is also apparent that the blister card 12 and the housing 14 could have a circular configuration wherein the blister card 12 and housing 14 would be mounted on a common axis of rotation, and, the recesses 24A-24J and associated bypass flaps 28A-28J would be circumferentially distributed about the axis of rotation. Still other modifications which fall within the scope of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, in light of a review of this disclosure, and such modifications are intended to fall within the appended claims.

Claims

1. A child resistant blister package comprising:

a blister card having a plurality of blisters; and

a housing for containing the blister card, the housing having an opening through which at least a portion of the blister card can be exposed to dispense contents from the blisters, the blister card and the housing comprising a releasable restraining mechanism having a plurality of locking positions corresponding to incremental level of withdrawal of the blister card from the housing, movement of the blister card from one locking position to a next locking position providing for sequential access to the blisters.

2. The package as defined in claim 1, wherein the restraining mechanism comprises a plurality of stops and at least one cooperating locking tab, the stops being distributed along a sliding direction of the blister card relative to the housing for sequential engagement with the at least one locking tab.

3. The package as defined in claim 2, wherein the stops are disposed on the housing and the at least one locking tab is disposed on the blister card.

4. The package as defined in claim 3, wherein each stop comprises a recess in a wall of the housing.

5. The package as defined in claim 4, wherein the wall of the housing comprises a two-layer construction and the recesses extend through an inner layer of the wall.

6. The package as defined in claim 2, wherein the restraining mechanism comprises a release mechanism allowing the at least one locking tab to bypass at least one of the stops.

7. The package as defined in claim 6, wherein the stops are disposed on the housing and the at least one locking tab is disposed on the blister card.

8. The package as defined in claim 7, wherein the housing comprises a two-layer construction and each stop comprises a recess through an inner layer of the wall.

9. The package as defined in claim 8, wherein the release mechanism comprises a bypass flap disposed in an outer layer of the wall and associated with each recess.

10. The package as defined in claim 9, wherein each bypass flap comprises a frangible portion of the outer layer of the wall.

11. The package as defined in claim 3, wherein the opening is disposed at a side of the housing and the blister card is movable through the opening along a sliding direction.

12. The package as defined in claim 11, wherein the stops are spaced along the sliding direction.

13. A child resistant package for progressively dispensing content, the package comprising:

a blister card having a plurality of blisters; and

a housing for shielding the blisters on the blister card, the blister card and the housing being progressively movable relative to each other between a series of interlocking positions via a releasable restraining mechanism to sequentially position at least one blister of the blister card in a dispensing position.

14. The package as defined in claim 13, wherein the releasable restraining mechanism comprises a plurality of stops disposed on the housing and a cooperating locking member disposed on the blister card.

15. The package as defined in claim 14, wherein the restraining mechanism is sequentially released from said interlocking positions by a corresponding series of release members, each release member being associated to a corresponding one of said stops.

16. The package as defined in claim 15, wherein each release member comprises a frangible portion defined in the housing.

17. A method for sequentially dispensing contents from a child resistant package, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a blister card having at least one portion that is shielded by and releasably restrained in a housing for sequential movement between a series of locking positions;

b) releasing the blister card from a first locking position;

c) displacing the blister card relative to the housing from the first locking position to a next locking position in which a portion of the blister card is exposed; and

d) ejecting content from the exposed portion of the blister card.

18. The method as defined in claim 17, wherein step b) comprises piercing a portion of the housing.