Patent US1393667A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0329960A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Secured package integrity
Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp
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Filing: 1989-01-24
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2009-01-24
Abstract
Abstract The package (21) includes a body (23) and a closure (25) and a readily breakable electrical oscillatory network (29) sans power supply is physically connected between the body (23) and the closure (25). The network (29), is tuned to resonate at a predetermined frequency. The package (21) is monitored by a transmitter-receiver when it is distributed to a customer. The transmitter produces pulse signals in a carrier frequency band which overlaps the resonant frequency of the network (29). During monitoring the package (21) is placed in the field of the transmitter and the oscillatory network (29) is excited to produce a decaying pulse for each transmitter pulse. If the package (21) is sealed, the oscillatory network (29), is intact decaying pulses are received to produce visual or audible signals. If the package (21) has been opened, the network (29) is broken and no signals are produced.
Inventors
- 👤 Martin Howard Cooper
- 👤 Lyman Jay Petrosky
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 02:28
CPC Classifications
B; B65; B65D; B65D55/00; B65D55/02; B65D55/028; B65D5/00; B65D5/42; B65D5/4291; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S206/00; Y10S206/807
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
106 words
A closed container (21, 81) including a body (23, 82) and a closure (25, 83, 85) for closing said body (23, 82) characterized by at least one electrical oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) having no power supply including a capacitor (113) and an inductor (114), and means (41, 71) connecting said network (29, 51, 51a) at one region thereof to the internal surface of said closure (25, 83, 85) and at another region thereof to said body (23, 82) so that when said container (21, 81) is opened by removal of said closure (25, 83, 85) from said body (21, 81) said network (29) is broken.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
106 words
A closed container (21, 81) including a body (23, 82) and a closure (25, 83, 85) for closing said body (23, 82) characterized by at least one electrical oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) having no power supply including a capacitor (113) and an inductor (114), and means (41, 71) connecting said network (29, 51, 51a) at one region thereof to the internal surface of said closure (25, 83, 85) and at another region thereof to said body (23, 82) so that when said container (21, 81) is opened by removal of said closure (25, 83, 85) from said body (21, 81) said network (29) is broken.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
49 words
The closed container of claim 1 wherein the container (21) is a bottle (23) having a body (23) sealed by a cap (25) characterized in that the oscillatory network (29) is connected to the cap (25) in one region thereof and to the body (23) in another region thereof.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
138 words
The closed container of claim 1 wherein the container (81) is a package (81) having closures (83, 85, 87, 89) at each end including associated overlapping flaps (83, 85, 87, 89) including an outer flap (85, 89) and an inner flap (83, 87) having abutting surfaces when the container (81) is closed, characterized in that said container (81) including a pair of electrical oscillatory networks (51, 51a), each including a capacitor (113) and an inductor (114), and, means (71) connecting one network (51) to the abutting surfaces of the associated overlapping flaps (83 and 85, 87 and 89) at one end and the other network (51a) to the abutting surfaces of the associated flap at the other end so that on the opening of the outer flap (85, 87) at either end the network (51, 51a) is broken.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
93 words
A container (21) having a body (23) having an opening and a cap (25) closing said opening characterized by a film (31) of electrically insulating material connected to said opening to seal said opening under said cap (25), an electrical oscillatory network (29) including a capacitor (113) and an inductor (114) secured to the outer surface of said film (31) and means (41) connecting said network (29) to the inner surface of said cap (25) so that on the removal of said cap (25) from said body (23) said network (29) is broken.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
93 words
A container (21) having a body (23) having an opening and a cap (25) closing said opening characterized by a film (31) of electrically insulating material connected to said opening to seal said opening under said cap (25), an electrical oscillatory network (29) including a capacitor (113) and an inductor (114) secured to the outer surface of said film (31) and means (41) connecting said network (29) to the inner surface of said cap (25) so that on the removal of said cap (25) from said body (23) said network (29) is broken.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
176 words
A container (81) having at opposite ends thereof each inner and outer flaps (83, 85, and 87, 89) for closing said container (81) characterized by a first and second electrically oscillatory network (51, 51a), each network including a film (55) of electrically insulating material having secured thereto a capacitor (113) and an inductor (114), means (71) securing said film (55) of said first network (51) to one of a first pair of surfaces consisting of the inner surface of said outer flap (85) and the outer surface of said inner flap (83) at one of said opposite ends means (71) connecting said first network (51) to the other of said first pair of surfaces, and means securing said film (55) of said second network (51a) to one of a second pair of surfaces consisting of the inner surface of the outer flap (89) and the outer surface of the inner flap (87) at the other of said opposite ends and means (71) connecting said second network (51a) to the other of said second pair of surfaces.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
176 words
A container (81) having at opposite ends thereof each inner and outer flaps (83, 85, and 87, 89) for closing said container (81) characterized by a first and second electrically oscillatory network (51, 51a), each network including a film (55) of electrically insulating material having secured thereto a capacitor (113) and an inductor (114), means (71) securing said film (55) of said first network (51) to one of a first pair of surfaces consisting of the inner surface of said outer flap (85) and the outer surface of said inner flap (83) at one of said opposite ends means (71) connecting said first network (51) to the other of said first pair of surfaces, and means securing said film (55) of said second network (51a) to one of a second pair of surfaces consisting of the inner surface of the outer flap (89) and the outer surface of the inner flap (87) at the other of said opposite ends and means (71) connecting said second network (51a) to the other of said second pair of surfaces.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
173 words
A method for electrically determining if a package (21, 81), having a closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) and a body (23, 82) closed by said closure, has been previously undesirably opened; characterized by the steps of producing a readily breakable electrical oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) sans power supply, said network having a predetermined resonant frequency, securing said oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) between said body (23, 82) and said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) in such manner that opening of said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) breaks said network, generating a signal having a frequency band overlapping the resonant frequency of said network (29, 51, 51a), positioning said package (21, 81) including said network (29, 51, 51a) in the field of said generated signal so that said network (29, 51, 51a) if intact, is set into oscillation by said signal, and monitoring the field of said oscillation to determine if said network (29, 51, 51a) is in oscillation thereby to determine if said package (21, 81) has been opened.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
173 words
A method for electrically determining if a package (21, 81), having a closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) and a body (23, 82) closed by said closure, has been previously undesirably opened; characterized by the steps of producing a readily breakable electrical oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) sans power supply, said network having a predetermined resonant frequency, securing said oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) between said body (23, 82) and said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) in such manner that opening of said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) breaks said network, generating a signal having a frequency band overlapping the resonant frequency of said network (29, 51, 51a), positioning said package (21, 81) including said network (29, 51, 51a) in the field of said generated signal so that said network (29, 51, 51a) if intact, is set into oscillation by said signal, and monitoring the field of said oscillation to determine if said network (29, 51, 51a) is in oscillation thereby to determine if said package (21, 81) has been opened.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
74 words
The method of claim 6, characterized in that the electrically oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) includes an inductor (114) and a capacitor (113) and in producing the electrical oscillatory network said inductor (114) is formed by bowing a wire into a single-turn coil with the outer end and the inner end of the wire overlapping over a predetermined angle, and insulated from each other said inner and outer overlapping ends forming said capacitor (113).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
78 words
The method of claim 6 characterized by the step of mounting the electrical oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) on a thin film (31, 55) of electrically insulating material, sealing the container (21, 81) with said film (31, 55) and connecting the network (29, 51, 51a) to the closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) whereby the network (29, 51, 51a) is broken when the closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) is opened and the film (31, 55) is penetrated.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 6 characterized in that the electrical oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) is connected between the closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) and the body (23, 82) so that when the closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) is opened, the network (29, 51, 51a) is broken.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
166 words
A method of providing a package (21, 81) having a body (23, 82) having an opening and a closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) for closing said opening with means for determining if said package has been undesirably opened, characterized by the steps of printing an electrical oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) on a film (31, 55) of insulating material, sealing said opening with said film (31, 55) depositing a dab of uncured adhesive (41, 71) in contact with said network (29, 51, 51a), closing said opening with said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) so that said dab is of adhesive (41, 71) is adhered to the inner surface of said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89), and permitting said adhesive (41, 71) to be cured whereby when said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) is undesirably removed said dab of adhesive (41, 71) and a portion of said network (29, 51, 51a) adhered thereto are removed and said network (29, 51, 51a) is broken.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
166 words
A method of providing a package (21, 81) having a body (23, 82) having an opening and a closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) for closing said opening with means for determining if said package has been undesirably opened, characterized by the steps of printing an electrical oscillatory network (29, 51, 51a) on a film (31, 55) of insulating material, sealing said opening with said film (31, 55) depositing a dab of uncured adhesive (41, 71) in contact with said network (29, 51, 51a), closing said opening with said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) so that said dab is of adhesive (41, 71) is adhered to the inner surface of said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89), and permitting said adhesive (41, 71) to be cured whereby when said closure (25, 83, 85, 87, 89) is undesirably removed said dab of adhesive (41, 71) and a portion of said network (29, 51, 51a) adhered thereto are removed and said network (29, 51, 51a) is broken.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
23 words
The container of claim 5 characterized in that the first and second oscillatory networks (51 and 51a) are tuned to distinguishably different frequencies.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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