Who invented child safety caps for medicine bottles?

Answer 1

In the mid-1940s, manufacturers of children's aspirin began to add flavoring so that sick children would take it readily. An unexpected consequence of this action, however, was that children were more likely to simply eat the medicine during unsupervised moments, as if it were candy. Dr. Jay Arena, pediatrician at Duke Hospital, was already focusing his professional career on the prevention of poisoning in children, particularly from household items. Disturbed by the number of patients who came to the hospital sick or dying from overdoses of "candy aspirin," he called Plough, Inc, makers of St. Joseph's Aspirin. Dr. Arena spoke to Mr. Abe Plough, the company's president, to implore action. Over the phone, Dr. Arena suggested that Mr. Plough manufacture a special new top for his product that parents could open but that children could not. The idea for the childproof safety cap was born.

The St. Joseph's Company undertook the creation of such a device and enlisted Dr. Arena to help test design variations before the product went to market. The St. Joseph's Company, the Homemaker's Guild, Dr. Arena, and other physicians nationwide began to study the efficacy of the new safety cap. Both children and their parents were tested. The resulting survey was published in the Journal of American Medical Association, and thanks to the results of the survey, St. Joseph's aspirin became the first to sell any product in a container with a safety cap.

Dr. Arena would later work closely with Mr. Plough on other ways of reducing hazards for children, such as decreasing the dosage in children's aspirin tablets.