EP1938903A2

EP1938903A2 - Pump Dispenser

Info

Publication number: EP1938903A2
Application number: EP07103844A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Joong Hyun Ki
Original assignee: Yon-Woo Co Ltd
Current assignee: Yon-Woo Co Ltd
Priority date: 2006-12-27
Filing date: 2007-03-09
Publication date: 2008-07-02
Also published as: EP1938903A3; CN101209766A

Abstract

A pump dispenser is characterized by including a cap that is coupled with an opening of a container, a button (150) that is ascendably provided in an upper end of the cap (110) and that has a nozzle (170), a cylinder housing (210) that includes an inlet through which contents of the container are received and a pump chamber (250) in which the contents that are received from the inlet flow and that is coupled with the cap, a check valve (310) that is provided in the inlet of the cylinder housing to prevent the contents of the pump chamber from flowing backward to the container, a piston (350) that gets close to and separated from the check valve, that includes a guiding channel (370) in which the contents received to the pump chamber flow, and that ascends together with the pump chamber, a stem (510) that includes a connecting channel (530) that connects the guiding channel and the nozzle to each other and one end of which is coupled with the button and the other end of which is coupled with the piston so that the stem ascends, and a spring that is provided outside the stem to apply elastic force to the stem. The pump dispenser includes a sealing member (410) that is provided between the internal circumference of the cylinder housing and the external circumference of the piston to seal a gap between the cylinder housing and the piston.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a pump dispenser, and more particularly, to a pump dispenser having a structure in which it is possible to prevent contents from deteriorating.

Description of the Related Art

In general, a pump dispenser is mounted in the opening of a container that contains cosmetics, detergent, and liquid or paste contents so that the contents in the container are discharged by a predetermined amount.
Recently, a pump dispenser having a structure in which assembled parts made of metal are separated from a pump chamber in which contents flow is provided in order to prevent the contents from deteriorating according as the contents in the container contact a spring that is made of metal or a check valve that is made of metal.
An example of the conventional pump dispenser is disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0456814 .
The conventional pump dispenser includes a cap 2 that is coupled with the opening of a container 1, a button 3 that is provided to ascend and descend in the upper end of the cap 2 and in which a nozzle is formed, a stem 6 that is coupled with the lower part of the button 3 so as to be connected to the nozzle 4, a cylinder housing 10 whose upper end is coupled with the cap 2, that includes a check valve 14 in the lower end thereof, and that includes a pump chamber therein, a piston 9 that is coupled with the lower end of the stem 6, and a sealing member 12 that is coupled with the circumference of the piston 9.
In particular, the conventional pump dispenser includes an upper ring member 22 that is inserted into the upper part of the stem 6 and whose position is restricted by an upper stopper 21, a lower ring member 24 that is inserted into the lower part of the stem 6 and that is provided in the upper part of the piston 9, and a spring 8 made of metal that is provided between the upper ring member 22 and the lower ring member 24.
The spring 8 made of metal is provided on the external circumference of the cylinder housing 10 (that is, provided to be separated from the pump chamber so that it is possible to prevent the spring 8 from contacting the contents in the container 1 and to prevent the spring 8 from corroding or to prevent the contents from deteriorating.
However, according to the conventional pump dispenser, since the spring 8 is interposed between the upper ring member 22 and the lower ring member 24 and the upper ring member 22 and the lower ring member 24 are inserted into the stem 6, the number of assembled parts is large so that the structure of the pump dispenser is complicated, that the assembling processes of a product are complicated, that productivity deteriorates, and that manufacturing cost increases.
Since the lower ring member 24 is inserted into the internal circumference of the cylinder housing 10, sealing property is not guaranteed so that the contents in the pump chamber of the cylinder housing 10 may leak.
Also, since the lower ring member 24 is assembled between the internal circumference of the cylinder housing 10 and the external circumference of the stem 6 and a stopper structure such as a protrusion and a groove is provided between the lower ring member 24 and the stem 6, a gap may be generated between the stem 6 and the lower ring member 24. Therefore, the stem 6 may not go straight when the stem 6 moves up and down so that the stem 6 may vibrate and that pumping efficiency deteriorates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above and/or other problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a pump dispenser that is capable of reducing the number of assembled parts so that it is possible to realize a simple structure, to simplify assembling processes, and to reduce manufacturing cost.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pump dispenser that is capable of guaranteeing sealing property so that it is possible to prevent contents from leaking and to increase pumping efficiency.
In accordance with the present invention, a pump dispenser is characterized by including a cap that is coupled with an opening of a container, a button that is ascendably provided in an upper end of the cap and that has a nozzle, a cylinder housing that includes an inlet through which contents of the container are received and a pump chamber in which the contents that are received from the inlet flow and that is coupled with the cap, a check valve that is provided in the inlet of the cylinder housing to prevent the contents of the pump chamber from flowing backward to the container, a piston that gets close to and separated from the check valve, that includes a guiding channel in which the contents received to the pump chamber flow, and that ascends together with the pump chamber, a stem that includes a connecting channel that connects the guiding channel and the nozzle to each other and one end of which is coupled with the button and the other end of which is coupled with the piston so that the stem ascends, and a spring that is provided outside the stem to apply elastic force to the stem. The pump dispenser includes a sealing member that is provided between the internal circumference of the cylinder housing and the external circumference of the piston to seal a gap between the cylinder housing and the piston and an under cap that is mounted in an upper end of the cylinder housing to support the sealing member and that includes a spring supporting groove that supports a lower end of the spring. A spring supporting jaw that supports an upper end of the spring protrudes on an upper external circumference of the stem in a radial direction. The check valve is formed of a synthetic resin.
A locking groove that is recessed in a radial direction of the piston is formed on an external circumference of the piston and a locking jaw that protrudes in a radial direction of the stem to be coupled with the locking groove is formed in a connecting channel of the stem.
A hollow protrusion that protrudes toward the stem is formed in the button and an accommodating groove in which the protrusion is accommodated and with which the protrusion is coupled is formed in the stem.
The check valve includes a supporting unit that is inserted into and coupled with a lower internal wall of the pump chamber, a valve body that is provided in a center of the supporting unit to open and close the inlet of the cylinder housing, and a plurality of elastic ribs that elastically connect the valve body to the supporting unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. illustrates a conventional pump dispenser;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a pump dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the pump dispenser of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating a check valve of the pump dispenser according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIGs. 1 and 2 illustrate a pump dispenser according to the present invention.
As illustrated in FIGs. 1 and 2, the pump dispenser 100 according to the present invention includes a cylinder housing 210 and the cylinder housing 210 is separably coupled with an opening 70 of a container 50 using a cap 110 as a medium.
A button 150 that discharges the contents of the container 50 to the outside is movably provided in the upper end of the cap 110. The button 150 is in the form of a pipe whose one side is opened and includes a nozzle 170 that discharges the contents of the container 50. A hollow protrusion 190 that protrudes toward a stem 510 to be mentioned later is formed in the button 150. The protrusion 190 is coupled with an accommodating groove 570 of the stem 510. The hollow part of the protrusion 190 guides the contents discharged from the container 50 to flow to the nozzle 170. The nozzle 170 according to the present embodiment is connected to the hollow part of the protrusion 190 in a direction orthogonal to the movement direction of the button 150. The cylinder housing 210 is coupled with the cap 110 and includes an inlet 230 through which the contents of the container 50 are received and a pump chamber 250 in which the contents received through the inlet 230 flow.
A check valve 310 made of a synthetic resin that prevents the contents discharged from the container 50 from flowing backward to the container 50 is provided in the pump chamber 250. The check valve 310, as illustrated in FIG. 4, includes a supporting unit 320 inserted into and coupled with the lower internal wall of the pump chamber 250, a valve body 340 that is provided in the center of the supporting unit 320, and a plurality of elastic ribs 330 that elastically connect the valve body 340 to the supporting unit 320. The ascending operation of the check valve 310 according to the present invention is realized by the elastic force of the plurality of elastic ribs 330 so that it is possible to precisely open and close the inlet 230 of the cylinder housing 210.
The valve body 340 according to the present embodiment has an inclined external circumference and protrudes from the supporting unit 320 toward the inlet 230 in one direction. The external circumference of the valve body 340 is attached to and detached from the internal circumference of the inlet 230 so that the inlet 230 is opened and closed. Therefore, sealing property between the valve body 340 and the inlet 230 is improved so that it is possible to prevent the contents from leaking between the valve body 340 and the inlet 230. When the check valve 310 is made of a synthetic resin, the check valve 310 can be easily manufactured by a molding process. Here, the valve body 340 can be semi-spherical instead of being conical.
A piston 350 is provided on the check valve 310 in the pump chamber 250 to be movable up and down. The piston 350 is in the form of a hollow pipe that has a guiding channel 370 therein. The lower end surface of the piston 350 is closed. At least one channel 350a is formed on the lower external circumference of the piston 350. The contents of the pump chamber 250 flow to the guiding channel 370 through the channel 350a.
The piston 350 gets close to and separated from the check valve 310 and guides the contents that are discharged from the container 50 to the stem 510. A locking groove 390 that is recessed in the radial direction of the piston 350 is formed on the external circumference of the piston 350. A locking jaw 550 of the stem 510 to be mentioned later is coupled with the locking groove 390.
A sealing member 410 is provided between the external circumference of the piston 350 and the upper end internal circumference of the cylinder housing 210. The sealing member 410 seals a gap between the piston 350 and the cylinder housing 210. The sealing member 410 is supported by an under cap 450 so as not to move according as the piston 350 ascends. The under cap 450 has an ∩-shaped section and is firmly mounted in the upper end of the cylinder housing 210 to support the sealing member 410 so that the sealing property of the pump chamber 250 is improved.
The under cap 450 has a spring supporting groove 470 that supports the lower end of a spring 610 to be mentioned later.
The stem 510 is movably provided between the external circumference of the piston 350 and the internal circumference of the under cap 450. The stem 510 is in the form of the hollow pipe. The external circumference of the stem 510 is tightly guided to the internal circumference of the under cap 450.
The stem 510 includes a connecting channel 530 that connects the guiding channel 370 of the piston 350 and the nozzle 170 of the button 150 to each other in the inside thereof. One end of the stem 510 is coupled with the button 150 and the other end of the stem 510 is coupled with the piston 350. The locking jaw 550 that protrudes in the radial direction of the stem 510 is formed in the connecting channel 530 of the stem 510. The locking groove 390 of the piston 350 is coupled with the locking jaw 550 so that the stem 510 and the piston 350 move together up and down. An accommodating groove 570 in which a predetermined step difference is formed is provided in the connecting channel 530 of the stem 510 that faces the button 150. The protrusion 190 of the button 150 is inserted into and coupled with the accommodating groove 570. Accordingly, the stem 510 ascends by the ascending operation of the button 150 and the stem 510 and the button 150 are not easily separated from each other. In addition, a spring supporting jaw 590 protrudes in the end of the external circumference of the stem 510 adjacent to the button 150 in the radial direction.
The upper end of the spring 610 is supported by the spring supporting jaw 590 of the stem 510 and the lower end of the spring 610 is supported by the spring supporting groove 470 of the under cap 450 so that the spring 610 is provided outside the stem 510. Therefore, the spring 610 provides elastic force to the stem 510 so that the piston 350 is separated from the check valve 310. In addition, the spring 610 is provided outside the pump chamber 250 to prevent the spring 610 that is made of metal from directly contacting the contents of the pump chamber 250 and to thus prevent the contents from deteriorating.
On the other hand, the spring 610 according to the present invention is supported between the stem 510 and the under cap 450 so that it is possible to reduce the number of parts for supporting the spring 610 and to simplify the structure of the spring 610. Therefore, it is possible to simplify assembling processes and to thus improve productivity. Here, the spring 610 is preferably formed of a coil spring.
On the other hand, reference numeral 130 that is not described is an aluminum cap that surrounds the cap 110. Here, the aluminum cap can be selectively interposed.
According to the above structure, processes of discharging the contents of the container 50 using the pump dispenser 100 according to the present invention will be described as follows.
First, when a user presses the button 150, the stem 510 descends together with the button 150. According as the stem 510 descends, the piston 350 descends. At this time, the spring 610 is compressed.
The contents of the pump chamber 250 of the cylinder housing 210 pass through the channel 350a and the guiding channel 370 of the piston 350 and the connecting channel 530 of the stem 510 to be discharged to the outside through the nozzle 170 of the button 150 by the piston 350 under the stem 510.
Then, when the user releases the button 150, the button 150 and the stem 510 ascend together by the elastic force of the compressed spring 610.
According as the stem 510 ascends, the piston 350 ascends. At this time, the spring 610 is restored to an original state.
According as the piston 350 ascends, the check valve 310 is opened by the vacuum pressure of the pump chamber 250 of the cylinder housing 210 so that the contents of the container 50 are received to the pump chamber 250 of the cylinder housing 210 and that a pumping operation is performed.
The contents of the container 50 are discharged to the outside by a predetermined amount by repeatedly pressing and releasing the button 150.
As described above, according to the present invention, the spring 610 that provides the elastic force so as to ascend the button 150 to correspond to the releasing operation of the button 150 is directly supported between the stem 510 and the under cap 450 so that it is possible to reduce the number of parts for supporting the spring 610, to simplify the structure of the spring 610, to simplify the assembling processes, to improve the productivity, and to thus reduce the manufacturing cost.
Also, according to the present invention, the under cap 450 supports the sealing member 410 that seals the gap between the cylinder housing 210 and the piston 350 so that it is possible to improve the sealing property and to thus prevent the contents from leaking.
According to the present invention, the under cap 450 is not accommodated to be assembled in the pumping chamber 250 of the cylinder housing 210 but is mounted in the upper end of the cylinder housing 210 and the external circumference of the stem 510 is tightly guided to the internal circumference of the under cap 450 so that the stem 510 can straightly move up and down. It is possible to prevent defect in the pumping since the stem 510 moves straight and to thus improve pumping efficiency.
Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the number of assembling parts so that it is possible to simplify the structure of the pump dispenser, to simplify the assembling processes, and to reduce the manufacturing cost.
In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to guarantee the sealing property so that it is possible to prevent the contents from leaking and to improve the pumping efficiency.

Claims

A pump dispenser characterized by comprising a cap that is coupled with an opening of a container, a button that is ascendably provided in an upper end of the cap and that has a nozzle, a cylinder housing that includes an inlet through which contents of the container are received and a pump chamber in which the contents that are received from the inlet flow and that is coupled with the cap, a check valve that is provided in the inlet of the cylinder housing to prevent the contents of the pump chamber from flowing backward to the container, a piston that gets close to and separated from the check valve, that includes a guiding channel in which the contents received to the pump chamber flow, and that ascends together with the pump chamber, a stem that includes a connecting channel that connects the guiding channel and the nozzle to each other and one end of which is coupled with the button and the other end of which is coupled with the piston so that the stem ascends, and a spring that is provided outside the stem to apply elastic force to the stem, the pump dispenser comprising:
a sealing member that is provided between the internal circumference of the cylinder housing and the external circumference of the piston to seal a gap between the cylinder housing and the piston; and

an under cap that is mounted in an upper end of the cylinder housing to support the sealing member and that includes a spring supporting groove that supports a lower end of the spring,
wherein a spring supporting jaw that supports an upper end of the spring protrudes on an upper external circumference of the stem in a radial direction, and
wherein the check valve is formed of a synthetic resin.
The pump dispenser as claimed in claim 1,
wherein a locking groove that is recessed in a radial direction of the piston is formed on an external circumference of the piston, and
wherein a locking jaw that protrudes in a radial direction of the stem to be coupled with the locking groove is formed in a connecting channel of the stem.
The pump dispenser as claimed in claim 1,
wherein a hollow protrusion that protrudes toward the stem is formed in the button, and
wherein an accommodating groove in which the protrusion is accommodated and with which the protrusion is coupled is formed in the stem.
The pump dispenser as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the check valve comprises:
a supporting unit that is inserted into and coupled with a lower internal wall of the pump chamber;

a valve body that is provided in a center of the supporting unit to open and close the inlet of the cylinder housing; and

a plurality of elastic ribs that elastically connect the valve body to the supporting unit.