EP1922282A2

EP1922282A2 - Device for facilitating the opening of cocks

Info

Publication number: EP1922282A2
Application number: EP06764608A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jean-Noël Caron
Original assignee: CEC
Current assignee: CEC
Priority date: 2005-05-23
Filing date: 2006-05-12
Publication date: 2008-05-21
Also published as: WO2006125882A3; FR2885897B1; WO2006125882A2; FR2885897A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for facilitating the opening of cocks on liquid product containers of the type that consist of an assembly comprising a pouch or flexible skin (P) which is equipped with a racking cock (R) and which is housed in an overpack (F), such as a parallelepiped cardboard box. The invention is characterised in that it comprises: a fixing plate (1) supporting a horizontal shaft (5) which is disposed at a distance in front of said plate, such that it is parallel thereto, and which can move vertically in a limited manner; a cam stop (6) which is mounted such that it can rotate around the shaft (5) and which is equipped with an operating lever (8); and a tilting traction stirrup (7) which is also mounted such that it can rotate around the shaft (5) and which comprises two spaced-apart pull lugs (7b), whereby said traction stirrup can occupy a neutral raised position and an active lowered position in which the pull lugs (7b) are disposed below the articulation shaft (5) at a distance therefrom, in a plane that is perpendicular to the fixing plate (1).

Description

Device for facilitating the opening maneuver of the valves equipping the containers of liquid products, of the wine fountain type.

The present invention relates to a device for facilitating the opening maneuver of the liquid containers containers, the type of wine fountain, more generally known as bag-in-box ®.

Such composite packaging very commonly used in the marketing of liquid food products such as wine and fruit juice, have been designed to extend the shelf life of the products they contain. They consist of a set consisting of a pocket or multifilm flexible housed in an overpack consisting of a parallelepiped shaped cardboard box. The inner flexible liner has a neck with a draw-off tap that can be pulled out of the cardboard box through an opening resulting from the removal of a pre-cut portion of one of the faces of said box.

This valve is generally of the piston valve type comprising a movable shutter or piston sliding axially in a hollow body, a first position opposing the circulation of the liquid product through the axial passage of the body of said valve to a second position ensuring this passage, and vice versa. The movable shutter is secured to two small lateral operating wings arranged projecting on two opposite sides of the valve body.

The opening of the latter is obtained by simultaneously lifting the two movable fins with two fingers (for example index and middle finger), while resting with the thumb on the top of the fixed body of the tap which is, moreover , equipped with automatic return means in the closed position.

Knowing that the second hand of the user is busy maintaining the receptacle for receiving the liquid drawn below the outlet of the tap, it is conceivable that the opening and keeping maneuver in the open position of the latter during filling said container, is done in rather uncomfortable conditions that can be very painful, for example for a person in charge of filling the glasses of a group of guests. It has been sought to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantage of the valves of the aforementioned type, by proposing (EP-1.201.601) an actuating device for an upward opening opening type distribution valve exerted on the operating fins of the movable shutter, comprising two levers assembled to one another by means of a hinge and one of which is itself connected, by a hinge, to a seat base and support constituted by a rigid structure on top of which can be positioned a container of the type "bag-in-box" containing the liquid product to be withdrawn.

The device described in EP-1.201.601 actually facilitates the operation of the valve and makes it less painful. However, this device introduces disadvantages of its own. Indeed, it is a bulky, complex and expensive. On the other hand, it is necessarily totally independent of the packaging itself, so that it can not be used by producers or distributors of products offered in these packaging for the promotion of such products.

The present invention relates to a device for facilitating liquid products valves opening maneuver, the kind bag-in-box ®, this device being simple and easy to use design, very fàTbTè ^{^"èήc"} dml> and rémëht reduced cost to consider it as a disposable type accessory or permanently not attached to the box or outer box of the container, or as an independent accessory releasably positioned on said outer box, with a minor modification of the latter . In this case, the device can be offered to the buyer of a certain amount of product (wine, fruit juice, edible oil, etc.).

According to the invention, this objective is achieved thanks to a device comprising:

a fixture or mounting plate supporting a horizontal axis disposed in front of said fixture or plate, at a distance and parallel to the latter, with a limited vertical displacement ability;

an eccentric abutment mounted with a rotation latitude about said axis and provided with an operating lever; and a tilting traction yoke also mounted with a possibility of rotation about said axis and having two spaced apart heels or pulling pads, said yoke being adapted to occupy a raised neutral position and a lowered active position in which its heels or draw pads are located below and away from the hinge axis, in a plane perpendicular or approximately perpendicular to the fixture or plate.

In addition to the advantages sought, previously specified and actually obtained, it is emphasized that due to its design and method of use, the device according to the invention can be permanently installed, or removably, not only on overpacks usual cardboard containers of the kind wine fountain or bag-in-box ®, but also on overpacks consisting of boxes or boxes made of different materials and with various forms, such as, for example, wooden crates of traditional form with hinged or sliding lid, wooden boxes in the form of barrels, rigid plastic crates in the form of cylinders, columns, etc.

In this way, the containers according to the invention can have a more neat and attractive appearance than that of the usual cardboard boxes and, as a corollary, allow to raise the range of food products (wines, fruit juices, edible oils, etc.). .) currently marketed in this type of packaging.

The above and other objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of an advantageous embodiment of the valve opening device according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the device positioned on the front face of an outer packaging of a bag-in-box ® type container, before actuation of the latter's tap.

Figure 3 is a side view of Figure 2. Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2 and showing the device in the open position of the valve.

Figure 5 is a side view of Figure 4.

Referring to the drawings to describe an interesting embodiment, although not limiting, the valve opening device according to the invention.

It should be pointed out that the terms "vertical", "horizontal", "high", "low", "upper" and "lower" are used in the remainder of this specification and in the claims. normal position of the device when used, these words having, of course, no restrictive character.

The device according to the invention comprises a plate or mounting plate 1 which can be made of any rigid material such as metal or plastic, by any suitable method depending on the material. This plate is secured, at its upper part, two small parallel spaced arms 2 extending perpendicularly to the plate 1, from the front face thereof. Depending on the material used, the arms 2 may be formed in one piece with the wafer 1 (for example by molding or by cutting and folding), or reported by any suitable method (for example by welding or gluing) on the front face. of the latter.

The mounting plate or plate 1 comprises a central opening 3 extending, preferably, to the lower edge of said wafer.

The arms 2 are provided, near their free end, with an oblong slot 4 oriented vertically, or substantially vertically, that is to say parallel or approximately parallel to the wafer.

In the oblong slots 4 is mounted a horizontal axis 5 which, in this way, can be animated by a vertical movement in said lights.

On this movable axis 5 are mounted, with a rotation latitude:

on the one hand, a cam stop 6, and, on the other hand, a tilting traction yoke 7.

The cam stop 6 may comprise a body 6a constituted by a cylinder having a cam-shaped section 6b in its central part, or by a sphere provided with a boss in its median spherical zone rotating around the hinge axis 5, or by any other member having an eccentric profile.

The cam stop is secured to an operating lever 8 extending perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said cam stop.

The traction stirrup 7 may be formed in one piece, for example by cutting and folding, from a sheet or plate of metal, or by molding in rigid plastic material. It comprises two symmetrical lateral branches 7a through which it is mounted, with a rotational ability, around the movable axis 5, and two heels or traction pads 7b spaced and arranged in the same plane remote from the axis 5. Preferably, the spaced shoes or traction heels 7b are connected by a positioning strip 7c open at the rear and extending perpendicularly to said pads or traction heels 7b.

It is conceivable that, because of its suspension with tiltability around the movable axis 5, the traction stirrup 7 can occupy two positions, ie a raised neutral position releasing the opening 3 and a lowered active position in which its heels or traction pads 7b are placed below and at a distance from said axis, in a plane perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the wall or fixing plate 1 in which said opening is provided.

The distance D1 separating the inactive contour of the cam 6b (corresponding to the minimum radius thereof) and the upper face of the heels or traction pads 7b, is substantially equal to or only slightly greater than the distance d1 separating the upper face F1 from the R taps of the bag-in-box ® bottles and the lower face F2 of the fins A of said valves (Figures 2 and 3). By against the distance D2 separating the active contour of the cam 6b (corresponding to the maximum radius of said cam) and said heel or traction pads is significantly less than the distance d1 (Figures 3 and 4). The device according to the invention can be fixed permanently or removably, by any suitable method and means, according to its mode of execution and its cost price, on the front face of a "bag-in-box" ® in the space provided for the outlet of the tap. For example, it may be fixed by gluing or otherwise, via its plate or mounting plate 1, whose rear surface may be provided with a self-adhesive film for removable or removable attachment of the device on the wall front of a "bag-in-box" ®, or removably engaged by means of said plate, in formed or reported slides on each side of the future opening in the outer package for the output of the tap.

Figures 2 to 5 illustrate the operation of the device according to the invention.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, the device is shown installed on the front face F of a container of the bag-in-box ® type, the valve R equipping the further or flexible bag P has been extracted from the outer packaging and is positioned between the front and side faces of the strip or positioning skirt 7c of the traction stirrup 7. The movable axis 5 rests in the bottom of the lights 4 of the arms 2. The inactive contour of the cam 6b is almost in contact with the upper surface of the body of said valve, while the heels or pads 7b of the yoke are located below the lateral wings A of said valve; on the other hand, the operating lever 8 is in the raised position. The tap is closed.

When the lever 8 is tilted forward, the active contour of the cam rests on the upper surface of the fixed body of the valve, so that the distance D1 tends to gradually decrease until it reaches the value of D2 . However, the valve body being fixed, the reduction of the distance D1 is only possible if the wings A are raised, this lifting being authorized thanks to the fact that the axis 5 can move upwards in the lights 4 by driving with it the cam stop 6 which rests on the body of the valve and the traction stirrup which raises the wings A thus ensuring the opening of the tap R.

The invention also applies to containers of various liquid products, of the kind consisting of a set consisting of a pocket or in addition flexible P equipped with a draw-off tap R and housed in an overwrap F, for example consisting of a cardboard box, or a wooden box, or plastic, parallelepipedic, or cylindrical, or barrel-shaped , having an opening O, for example precut, for the extraction of said tap, these containers being provided, in the zone of said opening, a device for assisting the opening maneuver of their valve comprising the provisions previously described features.

Claims

1. Device for facilitating the opening operation of the valves equipping the containers of liquid products of the type consisting of a set composed of a pocket or extra flexible (P) equipped with a tap (R) and housed in an overpack (F), for example constituted by a cardboard box of parallelepipedal shape, characterized in that it comprises:

- a bracket or mounting plate (1) supporting a horizontal axis (5) disposed in front of said applique or wafer, at a distance and parallel to the latter, with a limited vertical displacement ability;

a cam stop (6) mounted with a rotation latitude about the axis (5) and provided with an operating lever (8); and

a tilting yoke (7) also mounted with a possibility of rotation about said axis (5) and having two spaced apart heels or sliders (7b), said yoke being adapted to occupy a raised neutral position and an active position lowered in which its heels or pulling shoes (7b) are placed below and at a distance from the hinge axis (5), in a plane perpendicular or approximately perpendicular to the attachment or fixing plate (1) .

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the plate or mounting plate (1) is integral with two small arms (2) spaced and parallel, extending perpendicular to said plate (1), from the face before it, these arms (2) being provided, near their free end, an oblong slot (4) oriented vertically, and in that the hinge pin (5) is mounted in these lights (4) with vertical movement latitude.

3. Device according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the cam stop (6) is constituted by a cylinder (6a) having a cam-shaped section in its central portion (6b).

4. Device according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the cam stop (6) is constituted by a sphere provided with a boss in its central spherical zone rotating about the axis of articulation (5). ).

5. Device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the yoke (7) is formed in one piece, from a plate or metal sheet cut and folded.

6. Device according to one of claims 1 or 5, characterized in that the pads or pulling heels (7b) are connected by a positioning strip (7c) open at the rear and extending perpendicularly to said pads or heels of draw.

7. Device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the rear surface of the wafer or mounting plate (1) is provided with a film of self-adhesive material, so as to allow its fixing, removable or not, on the front side of the outer packaging of a container of liquid products of the wine fountain type.

8. Container liquid product, of the type consisting of a set composed of a pocket or extra flexible (P) equipped with a tap (R) and housed in an overpack (F), for example constituted by a box. cardboard, or by a wooden crate, or plastic, of form parallelepipedal, or cylindrical, or barrel-shaped, having an opening (O) for the extraction of said tap, characterized in that it is provided, in the zone of said opening, with a device according to one any of claims 1 to 6.