EP0148978B1 - Container closure for the contaminationless tapping of liquid chemicals from a container - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a container closure according to the preamble of patent claim 1.

It is of increasing importance to partially or completely empty containers which contain liquid chemicals and in particular those which are harmful to humans in a manner which allows humans to come into contact with the liquid chemicals as far as possible or to avoid completely. This is of particular importance if the liquids to be tapped from a container are chemicals that are harmful to health or the environment. Many governments have legislated on this, such as For example, the California government has regulated this over the past four years in relation to the open pouring of pesticides from containers.

While the government mentioned did so only through an open pouring process through its laws and regulations, without considering the possibility of later poisoning from human contact with emptied but unpurified containers or taps, or other damage to the environment, many governments go significantly further in this regard.

In order to fully appreciate the background of the invention, the study of a publication on page 19 of the "Agri-Chemical Age _" from September / October 1978 is recommended. This publication describes as u product of the month a closed pesticide transfer system, which is a cheap probe, which can normally be installed on site in a mixing drum by manufacturers of chemical formulations, and which comprises a standardized quick coupling therefor. However, with this known system it is still possible to pour out the contents of the drum by hand and openly, by means of an approximately 5 cm wide opening, which is intended for use by consumers who do not have a closed tapping device, but this gives the consumer the choice of using a special, suitable special device for tapping or not.

Other documents that address the background of the invention are US Pat. Nos. 4108,336, 4150771 and 4,245,760. The first and the latter of these references relate to chemical-containing container assemblies that can be adapted for use in closed systems. However, the container arrangement in these documents does not completely prevent open pouring or contact with the environment.

U.S. Patent No. 4,150,771 discloses a two-way valve closure that can be used when tapping beer from kegs. However, such a closure cannot be used when a tapping device is connected, in order to draw off a liquid chemical flow from the container at the same time and at the same time allow air to flow into the container, and at another time, with the tapping device still connected, to spray flushing water into the container and withdraw from it at the same time. The closure of U.S. Patent No. 4,150,771 is capable of being connected to several different coupling devices by the presence of hooks or the like projections in order to carry out separate operations.

From US-PS-3166106 a system for cleaning and filling drums under positive pressure is known, which is equipped with a two-way connection fitting for the drums. This tap is part of the system and is removed from the barrels after cleaning and filling. During transport, storage and tapping, the barrels are provided with the usual closures, e.g. B. such as have become known from US-PS-3 036 586 or said US-PS-4150 771. Protection against contamination is not required and, since it is obviously a matter of beer kegs, is also not necessary.

In the closed liquid transfer system known from US Pat. No. 4,119,114, the valves for controlling the tapping and flushing process are all in the actual tapping and flushing device. The container closure is opened by puncturing, cutting out and ejecting a part of the closure designed for this purpose. For this purpose, the tapping and flushing device is provided with a probe, the front end of which is provided with suitable perforating, cutting and ejecting means. There is no inevitable coupling between the opening of the container closure and the valves, so that incorrect manipulation and thus the unintentional escape of toxic chemicals into the environment cannot be ruled out with absolute certainty.

It is therefore an important object of the present invention to realize an arrangement by means of which a container containing harmful liquid chemicals is only accessible to a limited extent such that any possibility of an open pouring out of the container contents is practically prevented.

Furthermore, the invention aims to limit the tapping of the liquid so that specifically adapted tapping devices must be used for this purpose, both the container and the tapping device to be coupled to its closure both being largely free of impurities after the tapping has been completed or completely emptied.

Finally, the invention aims to achieve the stated object and to achieve the stated purposes using as little as possible costly means that still deliver the results you want.

The tasks are essentially solved by designing the closure according to the characterizing part of patent claim 1.

The closure according to the invention is used together with a tapping device which is designed such that the flow of the media flowing into the container is completely separated from the flow of the liquid tapped from the container.

The container closure is opened by suitable organs of the tapping device which is placed on the closure and forms a whole which is closed against the environment.

The bleed stream is preferably sucked off through inserted tube, while the pressure equalization takes place through air which flows in through the annular space between the outer wall of the inserted tube and the inner wall of the closing hollow body. After emptying the container via the tapping device which forms a closed unit with it, water or another cleaning agent can be introduced into it through the annular space, e.g. B. be sprayed, and the cleaning liquid collecting at the bottom of the container can be sucked off again through the inserted tube by means of a suction pump connected to the tapping device.

• Figur 1 einen Axialschnitt durch den Verschluss ;
• Figur 2 einen Schnitt längs der Linie 11-11 der Fig. 1 ;
• Figur 3 einen Axialschnitt in teilweise ausgestülpter Stellung ;
• Figur 4 einen Schnitt längs der Linie IV-IV der Fig. 3 ;
• Figur 5 einen Axialschnitt in völlig ausgestülptem Zustand ; und
• Figur 6 eine perspektivische Darstellung, teilweise im Schnitt eines Details des in den Fig. 1 bis 5 gezeigten Verschlusses.

Further purposes, advantages and details of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof in conjunction with the accompanying drawings; show it :

• 1 shows an axial section through the closure;
• Figure 2 shows a section along the line 11-11 of Fig. 1;
• FIG. 3 shows an axial section in the partially extended position;
• Figure 4 shows a section along the line IV-IV of Fig. 3;
• FIG. 5 shows an axial section in the completely turned-out state; and
• Figure 6 is a perspective view, partially in section of a detail of the closure shown in Figs. 1 to 5.

The closure 300 shown in FIGS. 1-6 is made in one piece from plastic and does not require separate springs. Its structure is therefore largely simplified. The closure 300 is preferably manufactured in one piece using the injection molding process and folded back into itself in the warm state for ease of manufacture. The closure has an upper or outer, relatively stiff head part 300A and a thin-walled and correspondingly more flexible riser pipe part 300B, which is lower, ie lower, in the slipped-in state, and inside the head part in the slipped-in state. In Fig. 1, the closure is shown in an inverted state. The head part 300A has on its inner wall protruding suspension ears or holding pegs 302, by means of which the protruding tube part 300B is retained in the inserted state with the aid of a corresponding opening, in particular slots 304, in the interior of the head part 300A.

The closure 300 is provided with a special device for the admission of liquid through the lower end of the flexible flexible tube part 300B, which comprises a membrane 306 in the bottom of the flexible part and a cylindrical ejection member 308. From Fig. 3 it can be seen that this tubular ejection member 308, z. B. by fixed abutment at the lower end of the piston or a pipe of a tapping device and thus pushed into the interior of the container, whereby the riser pipe part 300B by bending the upper fold edge of the riser pipe part 300B in the suspended state, as by dash-dotted lines in Fig. 3 is indicated, detached from the suspension ears 302, slipped out of the head part 300A and pushed towards the bottom of the container into the container. A tap which is suitable after a corresponding adaptation is shown in FIG. 5 of EP-A-0 064 949.

The inlet hole for the entry of a dangerous liquid chemical into the extended riser tube part 300B can be created by the fact that the lower, possibly sharp end of the ejection member 308 pierces or cuts a hole in the membrane 306. On the other hand, the bottom of the riser part may include a piston mechanism. Another type of sealing against liquid passage can consist of a valve in the bottom of the riser pipe part, which is opened by contact with the bottom of the container.

5 further shows that the closure 300 permits a two-way flow. When the riser pipe part 300B is fully extended, the liquid container content can be drawn off directly by sucking into the cylindrical discharge member 308 shown in dash-dotted lines, which is designed as a suction pipe, the required ambient pressure equalization inside the container being achieved by means of between the outer surface of the cylindrical discharge member 308 and the inner surface of the wall 312 of the passage space 311 located in the fully extended riser pipe part 300B. In the same way, water or another liquid can be filled into the interior of the container through the openings 303 in the head part 300A of the closure and the passage space 311, and flushing water can be sucked out again through the hollow interior of the cylindrical ejection member 308.

The closure may have an alternate slot-and-plug arrangement in which a series of plugs on one side of a hinged band is in a series of slots on the other side of the band is inserted sealingly when the closure is slipped in, whereas the plugs are removed from the slots when the closure is slipped out.

The container closure is advantageously designed so that it can be attached to the container in place of the most common ordinary closures. The three most common closures used in the United States are a 63 mm inner screw cap, a flexible REIKE-type snout, and a two-inch NPT bung.

Of course, all parts of the container, the closure and the tapping device which come into contact with the liquid chemicals must be made of a material which is resistant to them.

Claims (6)

1. Container closure having two through-flow paths, being, on the one hand, tightly fixable in an outlet opening of an container, and to which there is, on the other hand, tightly connectable a draw-off device, each of the two through-flow paths being closed by means which are opened automatically by parts (tube 308) of the draw-off device penetrating from the outside, when the same is put in place, whereby on the one hand, the container is emptied via one of the paths being designated hereinafter as the drain-off path and air and/or rinsing liquid and the-'Iike can enter the container via the other path being designated hereinafter as the pressure-equalizing and rinsing path, characterized in that the container closure is designed as an open-at-the-top beak-shaped, hollow body (300) being turnable inside out and viceversa, which is designated hereinafter as the turnable body, that the closing means of the drain-off path are arranged in the bottom part, and the closing means of the pressure-equalizing and rinsing path are arranged in the sidewall of this turnable body, and that the turnable body is convertible by means of one of the paths (tube 308) penetrating from the outside from its inwardly turned (short) state (Fig. 1) to its outwardly turned (long) state (Fig. 5), whereby the closing means (openings 304/projections 303 and/or diap- ragm 306) of both through-flow paths are opened.

2. Container closure according to Claim 1, characterized in that the turnable body (300) is locked in its inwardly turned position (Fig. 1), this lock being released when a displacing force exerted on its bottom part (diaphragm 306) exceeds a determined magnitude.

3. Container closure according to Claim 1, characterized in that the turnable body (300) is provided in its sidewall with one or several openings (304) being distributed preferably uniformly about its circumference, by means of which it is lockable in its inwardly turned position (Fig. 1) by means of projections (302) engaging this opening or these openings from the outside, while this lock is released when the displacing force exerted on the bottom of the turnable body exceeds a determined magnitude.

4. Container closure according to Claim 3, characterized in that the sidewall openings (304) of the turnable body (300), in the locked position, are tightly closed by the locking projections (302), and this arrangement constitutes the closing means of the pressure-equalizing and rinsing path.

5. Container closure according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the closing means of the draw-off path present in the bottom part of the turnable body (300) are constituted by a diaphragm (306) which can be pierced or cut open.

6. Container closure according to one of Claims 1 to 5 in combination with a draw-off device, characterized in that the draw-off device has a draw-off tube (308) protruding downwardly, or that such a tube is connectable therewith, which, when the draw-off device is placed on the container closure constitutes the part penetrating into the latter from the outside, and, upon contact of its forward end with the bottom part of the turnable body (300), turns the latter inside out and opens the closing means of the bottom part thereof, the said tube (308) constituting the draw-off path inclusive of a riser tube, and an annular space between the tube and the outwardly turned turnable body the pressure-equalizing and rinsing path.

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