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Childproof Rx Bottles that we can actually open!

You can get the pills out - but they can't
  (+4, -3)
(+4, -3)
  [vote for,
against]

Childproof caps on prescription bottles are almost impossible for most people to open: You need to press very hard while turning the lid, while lining up some sorts of arrows or dots and so forth.

Instead, make the bottom of the bottle threaded, so a 1/2 turn or so (if you hold the bottle upside down) lets you get your pill out. But your kids will spend endless hours trying to figure out how to open the cap on top (which is designed not to ever open)

You just need to make sure you don't take a pill from the bottom while they are watching.

blainez, Mar 14 2002

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       Hmmm.  I'm skeptical.  I think kids are smarter than that and wouldn't fall for the ruse.  However, I do agree that the current crop of child-proof caps seem to be adult-proof as well.
bristolz, Mar 14 2002
  

       How about some sort of combination lock, instead?
Jeremi, Mar 14 2002
  

       I don't think kids will have any desire to get at your pills if you put them safely away in the bathroom medicine cabinet, far out of reach of little hands. The whole point of the childproof lids is to stop accidental opening by making sure a force is applied and a twist, not just a twist.
[ sctld ], Mar 14 2002
  

       At an American national park rangers suffered problems resulting from bears raiding bins. They experimented with umpteen solutions but came across a stumbling block. Apparently there was considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest visitors. If everyone could open the bins they were simply not bear-proof.   

       The same thing applies to adults and child-proof containers.
Aristotle, Mar 14 2002
  

       Install a computerized drug dispenser with finger-print recognition. You get your pills in sealed catridges that you inserted into the machine. Only when the catridges are insider the machine can the drug be taken out. Press the button and the pill slide down like in candy machine.   

       I like to over-complicated things just for fun.
bing, Mar 14 2002
  

       The pill bottles around here have a tab to press down on which releases the cap to rotate. Others I've seen you squeeze the bottle making it noncircular and that releases the lock on cap so it will turn. The push and twist idea is only one of many. I think a locking PEZ would work just as well.
dag, Mar 14 2002
  

       Aristotle,  I think it's not an issue of mental agility, rather I think that the child-proof cap designs require more strength or dexterity than most small kids can muster.  Alas, these designs also deny many adults access to the contents as well, particularly those with, say, arthritis.
bristolz, Mar 14 2002
  

       Most pharmacies will give you a non-childproof pill bottle if you request it. Personally, I think the opt should be the other way around: non-childproof should be the default option.

I feel compelled to offer the standard kind of argument that the human species lived without childproof caps for a damned long time, that the best childproofing system is a smart parent or three, and that the occasional accident is just natural selection at work. But I could never do justice to such an obviously contentious and inflammatory position, so I shall refrain.
quarterbaker, Mar 14 2002
  

       I have a puzzle which is a block of wood with a marble inside. The game is to move the marble around an internal maze until it pops out of the entrance. I played with this for a week without seeing any sign of the marble. At school a 3 year old shook the damn thing for five minutes and the marble flew out. moral - you cannot use logic with children. I am all for protecting our little ones, so have to disagree with qb today.
po, Mar 14 2002
  

       I thought that part of the point of childproof caps was to prevent curious toddlers from *accidentally* opening the bottles. I don't think that most kids end up opening bottles because it's a goal, but because they're just playing with them and they happen to open. That could happen just as easily with your design.
rebekkahshiri, Mar 14 2002
  

       Ha, ha, ha! Oh, those dumb kids! They'd never figure this one out. They are, after all, the same people that suck on their toes, eat beetle-bugs, and watch ABC sitcoms.   

       Wait, I know adults that do that, too. Except the part about ABC sitcoms. *Nobody* does that.
jester, Mar 16 2002
  

       As [po] and [bristolz] suggests an issue with childproof locks is that they rely on strength, dexterity and a capacity to learn. Children can often have those in spades along with the curiosity and drive to open those kind of things up.   

       [Rods_Tiger]'s suggestion of age-related questions is reasonable but there are problems. I used such a system with a release of Leisure Suit Larry and some of the questions I couldn't answer because I do not know all the American vice-presidents and failed presidential candidates.   

       However I think I have the solution: measure the length of the user's tolerenes[sp] (the part of DNA that shortens as a cell reproduces). Maxwell's demons supplied with nano-scale rules should do the trick ...
Aristotle, Mar 16 2002
  

       Those child-proof caps are real easy to open. What do you mean hard?
DesertFox, May 05 2004
  

       what about the ones on the paint thinner bottles its just like a regular screw on cap with a ring around the bottom that locks with the bottle and all you have to do is squeeze the ring a bit to open the bottle, iv never seen a kid get past one of those before.
but then again iv never seen a kid who needed paint thinner.
andrew1, May 28 2005
  

       //Recently, I went to use a lighter, and the device that made it child proof just plain failed and popped out. Now anyone can use my lighter.// i wish i had one like that, i have to cut them off mine, i can only use them with the child lock on in spring or autum, in summer and winter my hands are either too numb or sweaty to get it to work.but until about 6 months ago i was still legally a child, mabey that has something to do with it.
andrew1, May 28 2005
  

       [blainez] I love this as it's counter-intuitive. I can't open asprin bottles and I shave off that little nub with a razor blade. But a bottom-opening bottle is simple for adults (if they can read the directions) and counter-intuitive (as I said) for the kiddies. Bakabale in my cookbook.
MauiChuck, May 29 2005
  

       //child proof cigarette lighters// Do WHAT?
Basepair, May 29 2005
  

       A picture of a colorful clown on the lid will help ensure that the child goes for the lid instead of the bottom :)
phundug, May 29 2005
  

       [phundug], a picture of a scary clown would ensure the kid doesn't go within 5 feet of the bottle in the first place.
5th Earth, May 31 2005
  

       Ooh, scary jack-in-the-box pill containers! Oh please, Jutta, can we? can we?
phundug, May 31 2005
  

       [po] A friend and I made one of those puzzles each at woodwork. He seemed to get his out easily while I had great troubles. I came to the conclusion my boring was off, although I must try shaking the $&*! out of it. A wire, as a pick lock, eventually got the marble out.   

       There's always another way.
wjt, Dec 07 2016
  


 

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