1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to a gift package which resembles a conventional baby nursing bottle and includes a container housing a gift, and more particularly a package of this type having a removable cap that simulates the nipple cap ring of a baby bottle and fits easily on the mouth of the container, yet is latched in place.
2. Status of Prior Art
A conventional glass or plastic baby nursing bottle to feed milk and other liquids to an infant is provided with a container having an externally-threaded neck onto which is screwed an internally-threaded cap ring supporting a rubber nipple. The assembly of nipple and cap ring is usually referred to as a nipple-cap ring.
It is known to provide a very young child who still uses a baby bottle with a gift package in a form which resembles in appearance a conventional baby nursing bottle but is somewhat larger in scale. The gift is housed in a transparent cylindrical plastic container sealed by a cap shaped to look like a nipple-cap ring.
Thus a young child, who is normally fed with milk delivered by a baby bottle, is given a gift in a package resembling this baby bottle. While this is a new and exciting experience for a child receiving his first gift, particularly since the gift is visible through the transparent container, the experience is not unsettling to the child, for the gift is being seemingly delivered by the same medium that delivers milk.
In one commercially known form of gift package resembling a baby bottle, the gift housed in the transparent container is constituted by an assortment of baby products, such as a baby shampoo, baby lotion, a squeeze toy, a pacifier, and a toy rattle.
A gift package simulating the appearance of a conventional baby bottle is usually not discarded after the gift stored therein is removed, for the package serves to house these articles when after use, they are put back in the container. Hence it is important that the removable cap which closes the container fit easily on the container, yet stay securely thereon.
It is known for this purpose to provide a gift package whose appearance simulates a baby bottle in which the transparent container has an externally-threaded neck of reduced diameter adapted to receive an internally-threaded cap that resembles a standard nipple-cap ring.
A gift package of this type having a screw-on cap is relatively costly to manufacture, for the cylindrical container having a threaded neck of lesser diameter cannot be extruded in tubular form, but must be molded to form two complementary half sections that are then joined together.
In the coin bank disclosed in the Dworman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,867 a conical cap having a coin slot and a cylindrical lower end section fits snugly into the upper end of an open-ended cylindrical container, and a cylindrical base cap fits snugly into the lower end thereof. To effect a snug fit, the cylindrical section of each cap is provided with a series of circular beads which act as O-rings that frictionally engage the inner cylindrical surface of the container. The drawback to this cap and container assembly is that it is not only difficult to press the cap into the container, but it is even more difficult to withdraw the cap from the container.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds