EP0532958B1 - Dispenser for fluid preparations - Google Patents

Abstract

A container has on a neck portion thereof an external thread for a screw cap and, above the thread a sloping plane in the form of a spiral running around the outside of the container neck over an angle of 360 degrees. A head piece fitted into the container neck has a cylindrical part which bears on the inner side of the container neck and is held firmly on the container neck by a groove-bead connection formed on the outside of the cylindrical and on the inner side of the container neck. A cylindrical part of larger diameter, connected in one piece with the cylindrical part of the head piece, encloses the container neck on the outer side thereof and has on the inner side a sloping plane in the form of a peripheral spiral. The spiral surfaces lie on one another like the flanks of a thread. When the head piece is turned, therefore, the groove-bead connection is released by a wedge effect. The head piece can be removed for reuse of the container by being refilled. The head piece has a cup-shaped part which is connected in one piece at the center with the cylindrical parts and in which there are formed slit nozzles for the medium to be discharged.

Description

The invention relates to a dispensing device for flowable preparations according to the preamble of claim 1.

In known devices of this type, the flowable preparation is contained in a container and is discharged from it by spraying, atomizing or by generating foam. An insert fitted into the container neck and a screwed-on cap have specially designed means such as distributor elements and a mixing chamber as well as the conveying path up to the outlet opening for one of the discharge types mentioned. A delivery device of this type is known, for example, from EP-A-0 133 983.

If the container is to be reusable, the insert specially designed for spraying or foaming, which must be stuck in the container neck when the container is in use, must be removable therefrom. If the outlet opening is designed for spraying or for discharging the foam in the screw cap and the conveying path extends from the insert present in the container neck into this screw cap, the screw cap that is only to be refilled for refilling the container can be used with the aid of an inside on the Screw cap designed so-called refill cam, which engages under the insert edge slightly protruding outwards at the top of the container neck, to push the insert out of the container neck upwards. However, if a screw cap is only used for transport protection and for tight sealing and has to be unscrewed for every use and the outlet opening is formed on a part which closes the top of the container neck, the above-mentioned method can be used a refill cam on the screw cap to make the container refillable, do not use.

The present invention was based on the object of creating a simple and inexpensive to produce dispensing device for flowable preparations, in which the container can be refilled and for this purpose the part closing the container on the one hand for use of the container even when handling overhead sits tight enough and can be removed by hand.

The object is achieved by the features of the characterizing part of claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention have the features of the dependent claims.

Fig. 1

von einer ersten Ausführungsform der Abgabevorrichtung zum Sprühen den oberen Behälterteil mit Kopfstück;

Fig. 2

den oberen Behälterteil gegenüber Fig. 1 um 90 Grad gedreht, in Knickstellung und mit dem Kopfstück im Axialschnitt;

Fig. 3

den oberen Behälterteil gemäss Fig. 1 mit Schraubkappe;

Fig. 4

den oberen Behälterteil in gegenüber Fig. 3 um 90 Grad gedrehter Stellung mit dem Kopfstück im Axialschnitt;

Fig. 5

eine Unteransicht des Kopfstücks;

Fig. 6

eine Seitenansicht des Kopfstücks;

Fig. 7

einen Axialschnitt durch das Kopfstück;

Fig. 8

ausschnittsweise und in grösserem Massstab den oberen Bereich vom Behälterhals;

Fig. 9

von einer zweiten Ausführungsform der Abgabevorrichtung den oberen Behälterabschnitt, teilweise weggebrochen dargestellt und mit dem Kopfstück im Axialschnitt;

Fig. 10

den oberen Behälterabschnitt in geknickter und in gegenüber Fig. 9 um 90 Grad gedrehter Stellung;

Fig. 11

den oberen Behälterabschnitt mit Schraubkappe im Axialschnitt;

Fig. 12

den oberen Behälterhals mit Schraubkappe und Kopfstück im Axialschnitt;

Fig. 13

eine Seitenansicht des ganzen Behälters in der zweiten Ausführungsform;

Fig. 14

den Behälter gemäss Fig. 13 von oben gesehen;

Fig. 15

einen Querschnitt durch den Behälter gemäss der Linie A-A in Fig. 13;

Fig. 16

einen Querschnitt durch den Behälter gemäss der Linie B-B in Fig. 13;

Fig. 17

einen Querschnitt durch den Behälter gemäss der Linie C-C in Fig. 13;

Fig. 18

eine Schmalseitenansicht des Behälters gemäss Fig. 13;

Fig. 19

den Behälter bei Gebrauch in über Kopf-Stellung.

Two embodiments of the subject matter of the invention are described below purely by way of example with reference to the drawings. Show it:

Fig. 1

from a first embodiment of the dispenser for spraying the upper container part with head piece;

Fig. 2

the upper container part rotated by 90 degrees compared to Figure 1, in the kink position and with the head piece in axial section.

Fig. 3

the upper container part according to Figure 1 with screw cap.

Fig. 4

the upper container part in the position rotated by 90 degrees with respect to FIG. 3 with the head piece in axial section;

Fig. 5

a bottom view of the head piece;

Fig. 6

a side view of the head piece;

Fig. 7

an axial section through the head piece;

Fig. 8

sections and on a larger scale the upper area of the container neck;

Fig. 9

from a second embodiment of the dispensing device, the upper container section, shown partially broken away and with the head piece in axial section;

Fig. 10

the upper container section in the bent position and rotated by 90 degrees with respect to FIG. 9;

Fig. 11

the upper container section with screw cap in axial section;

Fig. 12

the upper container neck with screw cap and head piece in axial section;

Fig. 13

a side view of the entire container in the second embodiment;

Fig. 14

the container according to Figure 13 seen from above.

Fig. 15

a cross section through the container along the line AA in Fig. 13;

Fig. 16

a cross section through the container along the line BB in Fig. 13;

Fig. 17

a cross section through the container along the line CC in Fig. 13;

Fig. 18

a narrow side view of the container of FIG. 13;

Fig. 19

the container upside down when in use.

The dispensing device comprises a container 1, of which only the part 2 designed as an articulated neck and the adjoining container neck 3 are shown in FIGS. 1-4. For the articulated neck section 2, circumferential bending lines 4 are formed in the plastic material of the container starting from one side at different angles of inclination, which allow the entire container neck to be bent to one side, which is suitable for various applications, in particular when holding the container overhead Advantage is. The principle is shown in Fig. 19.

The container neck 3 has an external thread 5 in the central part, which serves to screw on a screw cap 7 provided with an internal thread 6 (FIGS. 3 and 4). A head piece 8 is placed on the container neck 3 above the thread 5. The head piece 8 closes the container neck and has two slot nozzles 9 as the outlet opening. The outlet opening can also be designed differently: instead of the two slot nozzles 9 slightly inclined to the central axis of the container 1, for example a slot nozzle running essentially transversely to the central axis, a round or oval Nozzle or a nozzle forming a U-shaped slot can be provided, the cross section of the outlet opening being always the same regardless of the shape of the nozzle. In Figures 2, 4 and 7, the head piece 8 is shown in axial section. So that the head piece 8 is held firmly in the container neck 3, a groove-bead connection 10 is provided, specifically a circumferential bead 10 a is formed on the inside of the container neck 3, which extends into a circumferential groove 10 formed on a cylindrical part 11 of the head piece 8 b intervenes. Due to the sufficiently resilient plastic material of the parts, the tongue and groove connection snaps into place when the headpiece is placed on the container neck and then sits firmly. Appropriately, the head piece is in the screw cap when it is placed and is taken along when the latter is unscrewed until the Headpiece snaps into place. In Fig. 7 and in Fig. 8, the groove 10 b and the bead 10 a are best seen.

The head piece 8 shown in FIG. 5-7 as an individual part has the already mentioned cylindrical part 11 with the circumferential groove 10 b and a cylindrical part 12 of larger diameter which is integrally connected to it, as well as a part which is integrally connected to the cylindrical part 11 and in Diameter smaller cup-shaped part 13, which projects above the two cylindrical parts 11 and 12 and has on its outer surface the two slot nozzles 9 or a differently shaped nozzle, as described above. All mentioned parts of the head piece 8 form a one-piece molded part. In the case of the head piece 8 placed on the container neck 3, the outer cylindrical part 12 encloses the container neck 3 on the outside.

In order to be able to reuse the container 1 after emptying, the head piece 8 must be removed to refill the container and the groove-bead connection 10 must be loosened for this purpose, which should only be possible with a certain amount of force, since the head piece is sufficiently firm must sit in the neck of the container. To remove the head piece 8, a first inclined plane 15 is used, which is subsequently formed on the container neck 3 above the thread 5 and can best be seen in FIG. 8, and a further inclined plane 16, which is on the inside on the outer cylindrical part 12 of the head piece 8 is formed and which interacts with the inclined plane 15. From Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 with respect to the container neck 3 and from Fig. 6 with respect to the head piece 8 it can be seen that the inclined planes 15 and 16 are each formed as a circumferential helix, the inclined planes like the flanks one Threads lie on each other. It is also evident from the figures mentioned that the inclined planes, which are designed as helices, extend over 360 degrees. The means that the starting point of the helix and the end point of the helix lie one above the other on a vertical line and this line coincides with the center line of the container 1 in FIGS. 1 and 3. This applies to the inclined plane 15 on the container neck 3 as well as for the inclined plane 16 on the head piece 8. A narrow surface 17 on the cylindrical part 12 of the head piece that connects the beginning with the end of the helix along an axially parallel surface line in a stepped manner and lies in an axial plane 8, which can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 4, forms the one stop surface which comes to bear against a surface 18 which cooperates with it and which connects the beginning 15 with the end of the helix 15 formed on the container neck 3 in exactly the same way Is area, this area 18 in FIG. 1 lying behind the center line of symmetry. The two surfaces 17 and 18 form a stop for a rotational position of the head piece 8 in which the groove-bead connection 10 assumes the position preventing the axial mobility. Since the screw thread 5, 6 and the two coils 15, 16 have the same pitch, the head piece 8 can be brought into the correct position for the engagement of the groove-bead connection 10 by means of the screw cap 7.

The above-described dispensing device for a flowable medium is particularly advantageous if the outlet opening in the head piece is formed by the two relatively narrow slot nozzles 9, which are formed at a distance from one another, so that an angular region is irradiated with the emerging liquid. The advantage is that the narrow slot nozzles consume significantly less liquid than is the case with the liquid containers of this type known to date. A flat jet is generated by this slot nozzle, which is particularly due to the fact that the cup-shaped part 13 in the area of each slot nozzle 9 has an inwardly increased wall thickness, such as is particularly evident from FIGS. 5 and 7, so that the liquid jet is guided by this rib-like wall reinforcement. Due to the existing two slot nozzles, an area to be cleaned can be sprayed with the liquid jet more quickly, which means that the liquid consumption can be reduced, which is also of particular importance with regard to environmental protection, in particular if it is liquid used for toilet cleaning, that should be used as sparingly as possible. So far, so-called beak nozzles have been used for this, but they are very complicated and expensive to manufacture.

So that the liquid cannot escape from the slot nozzles 9 when the container is not in use or during transport, the cup-shaped part 13 of the head piece 8 is enclosed by two sealing lips 7a projecting downwards on the screw cap 7 when the cap is screwed onto the container.

In the second embodiment of the dispensing device according to FIGS. 9-12, the principle with regard to holding the head piece on the container neck with the aid of a groove-bead connection and with respect to releasing the head piece with the aid of inclined planes designed as a helix are exactly the same as in the first embodiment. The only difference is that this embodiment is intended for discharging foam which is formed in the container when it is dispensed by foaming the contents by means of air pressure. For this purpose, the head piece 8, which is otherwise of identical design, additionally has an insert 20 in the cup-shaped part 13, into which a riser pipe 21 opens, which extends through the container 1 to close to the bottom thereof, as can be seen in FIG. 19. Several longitudinal gaps 22 between insert 20 and riser pipe 21 let air out when the container 1 is compressed get inside the container above the liquid contained therein according to the arrows 23 in Fig. 10 in the insert. The liquid is pumped up through the riser pipe 21 into the insert 20. This insert 20 is designed in a known manner in such a way that when the foamable liquid and the air are brought together, foam is formed which is discharged through wider slot nozzles 24 formed in the cup-shaped part 13. The longitudinal gaps 22, through which, when pumping with the container, the air present in the insert 20 comes into being in order to allow this foam to form, are too narrow for the air flowing back into the container when it is no longer compressed in this way quickly enough to get into the container. In addition, the foam would be sucked back in this way and lead to the airway sticking together. Therefore, between the insert 20 and the inner wall of the cup-shaped part 13 there is another wider annular gap 25 which is closed at the bottom by an integral membrane-like valve 26 when the container is compressed, this valve 26 opening for the return air which then can flow back into the container sufficiently quickly.

If the container is held upside down as shown in Fig. 19, the flow paths for the air and the liquid are reversed, i.e. the air then passes through the riser pipe 21 and the liquid through the longitudinal gaps 22 into the insert 20.

19 also shows that, in the case of a container with a kink neck, the riser pipe 21 previously located in the middle of the container would no longer be in the middle of the container in the position with the kinked neck if the riser pipe was not at least approximately within the container would be held in the middle. One with overhead application on the downward facing The tubing on the inside of the tank would not protrude from the liquid level so that the air can be forced through the tubing. Therefore, the container 1 has a support surface 30 projecting approximately into the center of the container, against which the riser pipe 21 bears in order to hold it approximately in the center of the container. The special shape of the container 1 with a support surface 30 can be seen in FIGS. 13-18. FIG. 16 shows a cross section through the container along the line BB in FIG. 13. From FIG. 16 it can be seen that the support surface 30 for the riser pipe 21 is formed by a constriction 31 of the container, ie in a section of the container are opposite one another Opposing wall parts of the container are shaped so that they lie opposite each other in the middle of the container.

The dispenser also has a child safety device to prevent the screw cap 7 from being easily unscrewed. As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, the container neck 3 below the thread 5 is not cylindrical but oval and has two cams 35 on the outside in the area with the larger diameter opposite one another with an inclined run-up slope. The screw cap 7 has a tooth 36 on the inside opposite one another, which, when the cap is screwed on, travels behind it due to the run-up slope of the cam, so that the screw cap can only be unscrewed if it is pressed together in a direction offset by 90 ° to the teeth to move the teeth away from the stop position against the cams so that the screw cap can then be turned.

Claims (9)

1. Dispensing device for free-flowing preparations, having a container (1) for receiving a free-flowing medium for the purpose of discharging the same, for example by spraying or foaming by means of air pressure, having a head piece (8) fixed on the container neck (3) and exhibiting the discharge opening and having a closure cap (7) engaging over the head piece and the container neck and held firmly but releasably on the latter; characterized in that the container neck inner side (3) and a part (11) of the head piece (8) in contact with the latter have inwards from the container neck end a peripherally formed and interengaging groove-bead connection (10) as a limitedly acting catch against axial movability of head piece (8) and container neck (3) relative to each other; and in that, on the container neck outer side and on a part (11) of the head piece (8) enclosing the latter, there is formed in each case a sloping plane (15, 16) for sliding on each other, which planes interact in such a way that, when the head piece (8) is turned about the container axis, the groove-bead connection (10) is released for the purpose of removing the head piece.
2. Dispensing device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the sloping planes are formed by a surface (15, 16) respectively formed as a peripheral spiral on the outside of the container neck (3) and on the inner side of the part (11) of the head piece (8) enclosing the container neck (3) and the surfaces (15, 16) lie one on the other like the flanks of a thread.
3. Dispensing device according to Claim 2, characterized in that the spiral surfaces (15, 16) extend over 360 degrees; and in that respective surfaces (17, 18) on the container neck (3) and on the part (11) of the head piece (8) enclosing the latter, which surfaces in each case lie in an axial plane and join in stepped form the beginning and the end of the spiral along an axially parallel generatrix, form a stop when they bear against each other for a turning position of the head piece in which the groove-bead connection (10) assumes the position preventing axial movability.
4. Dispensing device according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the head piece (8) comprises at least two coaxial cylindrical parts (11, 12) of differently sized diameter, connected in one piece, of which the one part (11) is fitted into the container neck (3) and is firmly held on the latter by means of the groove-bead connection (10) and the other part (12), larger in diameter, bears on the inside the spiral-shaped sloping plane (16) and encloses the container neck (3) provided with a further spiral-shaped sloping plane (15).
5. Dispensing device according to Claim 4, characterized in that the inner part (11) of the head piece (8) of smaller diameter is connected in one piece to a cup-shaped part (13) of smaller diameter, which part (13) protrudes beyond the said cylindrical parts (11, 12) and exhibits the outlet opening (9).
6. Dispensing device according to Claim 5, characterized in that the outlet opening comprises two or more slit nozzles (9) formed at a distance from each other in the cylindrical shell of the cup-shaped part.
7. Dispensing device according to Claim 1, characterized in that a head piece (8) intended for the discharging of foam is connected to a flexible riser (21) which protrudes centrally into its cup-shaped part (13) and opens out into an insert (20), arranged in the cup-shaped part (13), for foam forming; and in that the container (1) has at a distance from the container neck (3) a supporting surface (30) for the riser (21), which surface protrudes into the interior of the container, in order to hold the riser in the longitudinal centre of the container.
8. Dispensing device according to Claim 7, characterized in that the supporting surface (30) in the interior of the container is formed by wall portions of the container closely opposite one another due to local constriction (31) of the container (1).
9. Dispensing device according to Claim 8, characterized in that the container (1) has a tilting neck (2) which is formed by a plurality of peripheral bending lines (4) in the container material, starting from one side of the container at various angles of inclination; and in that the container constriction (31) is formed on the same side of the container from which the bending lines (4) start.

Images