A newly patented product may be about to address the problem of those pill bottles that are supposed to be childproof but which the small, knowing ones seem always to be able to negotiate. Anyone who has ever had children has a story to tell about this.
A mechanical engineer based in Cork takes the view that those click-click screwtop bottles - press down and turn - were a nightmare for the adults whereas the dextrous youngsters found them a challenge to be overcome. And many of them have done so, she said, resulting in trips to hospitals and the surgeries of local doctors.
When the need is most pressing, she said, adults reach for the pill bottle that will soothe the aching gums or sore tummy. But those bottles, as Ms Nicola Field discovered, can be painfully difficult to open in a hurry. Yet with lots of time on their hands, toddlers will stay at it until they have mastered the art.
"They are naturally more curious and they are more adept. If something can be opened, they will open it, staying at it for ages, if necessary," she said.
This got her thinking. What about an adult-friendly pill bottle, she wondered, one that would confound the children and give their mothers and fathers easier access? Which brings us to the quantum leap from art to mechanical engineering. Nicola Field is an inventor with an artistic mind.
A drama graduate of the University of Aberystwyth in Wales, she was awarded an honours degree at the Cork Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering. Her artistic bent was one thing but she always wanted to know how things worked, the bits and pieces that made things happen, and why. When she married an Irishman and found herself in Cork, a course at the CIT was available and she took it.
The adult-friendly, childproof pillbox has been invented, it has been patented, and there are lots of exciting prospects. The thing about it is that while mum or dad will be able to open it in a thrice, children will find themselves flummoxed. This one is not for opening because it requires a hand span and dexterity not available to the small ones.
Having got to thinking about the matter after a relative complained that she found difficulty opening a pill bottle while a three-year-old had no such problem, she started doodling.
The initial sketches didn't amount to much. She was going down the same road as the mainstream manufacturers. She felt her tentative designs weren't leading anywhere. Then, eureka, it came to her.
When a child scrambles onto a chair and reaches for the potentially lethal bottle, it sees a cylinder. The pill container is inside the cylinder and can be opened only from the base, not the top, as is the case with conventional containers. It cannot be opened unless the top and bottom of the cylinder are held at the same time. This involves a thumb and forefinger, the other hand as well, and children simply are not up to it.
In the department of mechanical and manufacturing engineering at the CIT, there is an established history of innovation and invention. Ms Field, brought her drawings to the department and a prototype was manufactured, first using computer simulation and later the production of the cylinder itself.
Last July, she patented her invention in this State. There will be worldwide cover until she takes out a full patent within a year, and people are becoming seriously interested in what she has achieved.
The South Cork Enterprise Board has given her a grant for a feasibility study, and a market research study is being conducted by the Business Innovation Centre in Cork. More than that, the business community is sitting up and taking notice. There have been interesting contacts from the pharma/chem sector, which, for now, Ms Field would rather not disclose, but if the straws in the wind are a gauge, her invention is about to be taken up by industry.
Outside of all that, a home trial by a mother with a 22-month-old daughter is a powerful piece of market research, and Ms Field's daughter, Sophie, try as she might, cannot open the bottle which her mother has designed.
In other countries, she said, there are childproof, adult-friendly pill bottles but they are not available here.
The head of her department, Mr Tony Fitzpatrick, has no difficulty in marrying her past life in drama and her latest incarnation. "Engineering and art have historically been intrinsically linked. The designer and artist have often been one and the same. A prime example of this is Leonardo Da Vinci who designed many ground-breaking engineering innovations, including artillery pieces, hoists, equalising devices and even a design for a flying machine. Indeed, Leonardo pointedly titled himself engineer and artist."
What's next? It's something of a waiting game. To bring her invention to the production stage, a commercial partner will be needed. "I'm waiting and hoping that it will happen," she adds. My prediction is that she is on a winner and that after six years of working it all out, the Field childproof, adult-friendly pill bottle will come successfully to the market place.