GB2119868A

GB2119868A - Dispenser pump

Info

Publication number: GB2119868A
Application number: GB08312836A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Erwin Howard Levine; Charles Alexander Soriano
Original assignee: Ethyl Products Co
Current assignee: Ethyl Products Co
Priority date: 1982-05-10
Filing date: 1983-05-10
Publication date: 1983-11-23
Also published as: GB8312836D0; FR2526403A1; DE3317096A1; GB2119868B

Abstract

A hand-operated pump assembly for discharging liquids from containers by finger actuation has a hollow cylindrical body member 15 with an opening at its upper and at its lower end. A piston unit is provided with a piston 25 that is slidably received in the body and a hollow stem 38 that projects out of the upper opening in the body. Means 23 within the body biases the the piston upwardly. A collar member 56 slidably receives the stem and has a lower skirt portion 58 sealingly seated in the upper opening of the body. Means are provided for coupling the body and collar member, e.g. the body may be provided with fingers 53 that extend through openings in a flange on the collar and are engaged by a snap-fit closure member 71 to couple the body, piston assembly, collar member, and closure into a pump assembly. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Dispenser pump The present invention relates to a dispenser pump adapted for attachment to hand-held containers for liquids for discharging the liquids therefrom by finger actuation.

A wide variety of vertically reciprocating handheld dispenser pumps have been utilized to dispense liquid products from hand-held containers by vertical reciprocation of the plunger of the pump. These pumps have been mounted to the tops of containers in a number of different ways. Present day manufacturing procedures for producing reciprocating finger pumps require that the component parts be machine assembled in a high speed assembly operation in order to effect economies permitting the pumps to be sold at economic prices. Various means are utilized to hold the assembled pump components together after they are assembled. In most pump assemblies the spring exerts upward pressure on the piston stem assembly and would tend to push it out of the assembled pump unless means were used to hold the piston assembly within the body of the pump. The reciprocating finger pumps shown in U.S.Patents Nos. 3,198,403 and 3,223,292 utilize a valve stem having a projection on is lower end which engages the bottom of the spring and a enlarged ball valve head at the upper end of the stem which seats on a shoulder provided in the hollow piston stem effectively to seal the pump against leakage when the pump is in the normal up or nonactuated position. In these type pumps there is no pressure exerted on the stem tending to eject it out of the pump chamber. Therefore these pumps do not require that the stem be held down by the closure means which generally can be a ferrule for clamping over containers having a projecting bead on their neck. Finger pumps can be assembled by means of a internally threaded cap which provides a bead on the inside of its skirt that snap locks with the flange on the top of the pump tank or body.

Another technique for assembling pump components, particularly those of plastics material, is disclosed in U.S. Patents Nos. 3,128,018 and 3,+54,615. In these finger actuated dispenser pumps the piston-stem assembly is retained within the body under compression of the spring by producing an inwardly projecting bead on the interior of the barrel to engage the upper end of the piston member. The bead is produced by the method shown in U.S.

Patent No. 3,154,615 wherein a hot tool depresses the interior portion of the barrel to roll a bead to engage the piston and also at the same time produces a bead on the upper end of the integral collar on the pump body to attach the threaded closure member to the pump thereby completing the assembly of the pump. In these type pumps the pump piston stem assembly is held in the down position by means of threaded engagement of a collar on the pump head with threads provided on the cylindrical member at the upper end of the pump body.

Another means of attaching the components of a finger dispensing pump is shown in U.S. Patent No.

3,391,647 where the spring member under compression normally pushes the piston in the up position and is retained under slight compression by engagement of a shoulder on the piston stem with a seat provided in a downwardly depending flange surrounding the stem which is carried by a major collar member that is snap fitted over the upward extended cylindrical portion of the integrallyfomed portion of the pump cylinder. The threaded container cap is seated on top of the flange provided on the pump body and retained between the flange and the snap-on collar member. The pump can be stored and shipped in the down position by engaging a bead on the atomizer head with a recess provided in a raised ring on the top of the collar member.

Assembly of finger dispensing pumps can utilize a grommet for locking the components of the pump together as shown in U.S. Patent No. 4,050,860. The grommet is held in the housing by a bead on the grommet that is received in a groove in the housing.

The grommet has a locking bead at its upper end which retains the closure cap when it is forced down over the bead.

While all of the foregoing means of assembling pumps for shipment to the customer have provided satisfactory, there is still a need to provide a pump which can be automatically assembled by highspeed mechanical assembling equipment and which will provide leak-proof features when the pump is locked in the down or "ship" position.

The present invention provides a pump assembly which includes a cylindrical body member provided with an opening in its upper end and its lower end. A piston unit which carries a piston is slidably received in the body member and has a hollow stem attached thereto which extends out of the upper end of the body. A spring within the body member has its lower end seated at the lower end of the body and its upper end seated against the underside of the piston so as to bias the piston upwardly. A collar member is provided which slidably surrounds the stem. The collar member has a lower end skirt portion sealing ly received in the upper opening in the body member. A cap-closure member is provided which couples the body member to the collar member.

The present invention will now be further described and illustrated by way of preferred embodiments of the invention and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an elevational, cross-sectional, view of a dispenser pump of the present invention; Figure 2 is a view of a dispenser pump of the present invention similar two Figure 1 showing the piston assembly of the pump in the down, or ship position; Figure 3 is an enlarged, broken, elevational, sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 is an enlarged, elevational, sectional, view of the upper end of the body member of a dispenser pump of the present invention; Figure 5is an enlarged, elevational, broken, full view of the upper end of the body member of the pump of the present invention;; Figure 6 is an enlarged top view of the body member of Figure 5 of a dispenser pump of the present invention; Figure 7 is an enlarged, elevational, full view of the collar member of a dispenser pump of the present invention; Figure 8 is a top view of the collar member of Figure 7; Figure 9 is an elevational, sectional view of the collar member of Figure 8 taken along the lines of 9-9; Figure 10 is an enlarged, elevational, sectional view of the combination closure-collar member of the embodiment of the present invention depicted in Figure 3; and Figure Ii is an enlarged, elevational, broken, sectional, view of the piston portion of a dispenser pump of the present invention.

Referring now in particularto Figures 1 and 2, the dispensing pump of the present invention includes a cylindrical pump body or housing, designated generally by the numeral 15. The lower end of the pump body is provided with a hollow cylindrical extension 16 which frictionally receives and retains the upper end of the dip tube 17. An integrally formed valve seat member 18 projects upwardly from the lower end of the pump body. A lower ball check valve 19 is seated in the upper end of the valve seat member 18 and seals the opening 20 that permits fluid to flow into the tank or pump body from the dip tube 17. A cylindrical recess 21 is provided in the lower end of the pump body and receives the lower end 22 of helical spring 23.The spring 23 has two reduced diameter turns 33-33 which are located about five or six turns in from the lower end 22 and the upper end 36 of the spring; The diameter of turns 33-33 are smaller than the diameter of the lower check valve ball 19. When the pump is in the locked down, or ship and store position as seen in Figure 2, the lower reduced diameter turn 33 presses the lower check valve ball 30 firmly against the lower valve seat member 18 to provide a leak-proof seal between these members.

Received in the hollow interior of the pump body is the lower end of the piston assembly, designated generally by the numeral 24. The piston assembly includes an integrally formed piston member, designated generally by the numeral 25. The piston member has a generally cylindrical shape and is provided with an outwardly extended, thin flexible upper skirt 26 which makes sliding and sealing contact with the inner wall 27 of the pump body. The piston member is provided with a lower skirt 28 which is provided with a raised bead 29 on its outer surface which makes sliding and sealing contact with the inner wall 27 of the pump body. When the piston assembly 24 is in the locked down, or ship position shown in Figure 2, the beaded lower skirt portion 28 of the piston is received in an annular groove 30 provided in the lower end of the body 15.

The central portion 31 of the piston member 25 is of reduced diameter compared to the diameter of the upper and lower piston skirt portions and provides an annular open space 32 between its outer wall and the inner wall 27 of the pump body. As seen in Figure 1, when the piston assembly is in the upper or pump actuation position, the vent opening 34 in the pump body 15 opens into the annular space 32 which is sealed from communication with the lower portion and the upper portion of the hollow interior of the pump body by means of the upper and lower skirt members on the piston. The interior of the hollow piston is provided with a shoulder 35 which engages the upper end 36 of spring member 23. The lower portion of the interior wall of the central portion 31 of the piston is provided with a plurality of integrally formed, downwardly extending, reinforcing ribs 37.

The upper part of the piston assembly 24 has a hollow stem member 38 which is integrally formed with the piston assembly 24. However, if desired the stem and piston may be separately formed and coupled together by suitable means. An integrally formed upper check valve seat member 39 is provided on the inner wall 40 of the stem 38. The upper check valve member has an opening 41 to permit the passage of fluid therethrough. An upper check ball 42 seals the opening in the check valve seat member 39 when the piston assembly is at rest or on the upstroke of the piston assembly is at reat or on the upstroke of the piston assembly. A spout member, designated generally by the numeral 43, is attached to the upper end of the stem 38.The spout member has a lower annular skirt portion 44 which has annular beads 45 on its interior wall that are received in recesses 46 provided on the outer wall of the upper end of the stem member 38. The engagement of the annular beads 45 and recesses 46 retain the spout on the end of the stem once the spout is pressed thereon. The skirt portion 44 of the spout is provided with helical threads 47 on its exterior surface. The lower end surface of the skirt is provided with an upperwardly directed groove 48.

The spout has a bore 49 for delivery of the fluid being dispensed by the pump.

Referring now to Figures 1,2, and 4 to 6, the upper end of the body 15 is provided with a thickened wall section 50 having a plurality of rectangular shaped recesses 51 therein. The recesses 51 are utilized by the assembly machine properly to orient the body to receive the other components of the pump during assembly. The upper end of the body 15 is provided with an integrally formed, annular, outwardly extending flange member 52. Integrally formed with the wall of the body member 15, and projecting upwardly from the flange member 52 are a pair of opposed fingers 53-53. Each of the fingers 53-53 is provided at its upper end with a shoulder portion 54-54. The inner wall 27 of the body 15 terminates at its upper end in an outwardly inclined tapered portion 55 as seen more clearly in Figure 4.

Referring now to Figures 1,2, and 7 to 9, a collar member, designated generally by the numeral 56, has a lower skirt portion 57 which is received in a frictional fit in the upper open end of the body 15 as seen in Figures 1 and 2. The lower skirt portion 57 includes an outer wall member 58 and an inner wall member 59 separated by an annular space 60 as seen in Figure 9. The outside diameter of the outer wall 58 is slightly larger than the inside diameter of the body 15 and the tapered shoulder 55 forces the flexing of the outer wall 58 so that it can be forced into the upper end of the body 15. The inner wall 59 slidingly receives the stem 38 of the piston assembly.

As seen more particularly in Figures 7 to 9, the collar member 56 is provided with a integrally formed flange 61 which flange has two opposed flat sides 62-62 and two opposed arcuate sides 63-63.

However, if desired the flange can be cylindrical. The flange 61 is provided with two opposed arcuate shaped openings 64-64 in its arcuate shaped side portions 63-63. The upper section 65 of the collar 56 is generally cylindrical in shape and is provided with threads 66 on its inner wall surface. The outer wall 67 of the upper section 65 of the collar is provided with a pair of opposed recesses 68-68 which snuggly receive the finger portions 53-53 of the body member 15. As seen in Figure 8, a web 69 connecting the outer and inner walls of the sort of the collar is provided with opposed arcuate openings 70-70 for air vents to communicate with opening 34 on the downstroke of then piston assembly to permit air to replace the liquid in the container as the product is displaced.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2, the pump body 15 and the collar member 56 are coupled together by means of a closure member, designated generally by the numeral 71. Closure member 71 has a top portion 72 which has a central cylindrical opening which loosely surrounds the outer wall 67 on the upper section of the collar member. The closure top portion is integrally formed with a downwardly depending skirt portion 73 which has threads 74 provided on its interior wall. The diameter of the central opening in the top portion 72 of the closure is slightly larger than the diameter of the upper section 65 of the collar but is of a smaller diameter than the projecting shoulder 54 on each of the fingers 53.

Thus during assembly of the pump when the lower skirt of the collar member is positioned within the top opening of body 15, the closure 71 is then forced down over the shoulders 54-54 of the fingers 53-53 and snaps underneath the shoulders and is thereby retained in position coupling together with the flange 61 of the collar member and the flange 52 of the body member. When the closure member is threaded down snuggly onto the threaded neck of a container the flanges 61 and 52 are pulled into contact, or into close proximity to each other, thereby firmly seating the collar member skirt within the opening at the top of the body to provide a leak proof seal between the body and the lower skirt portion of the collar.

When assembled, the piston assembly 24 is retained within the barrel or body 15 even though the spring 23 is under compression by means of abutment of shoulder 14 on the lower end of the stem 38 with the bottom of inner wall 59 of the collar member as seen in Figure 1.

Referring now to Figures 3 and 10, an alternate embodiment of the pump dispenser of the present invention is depicted. In this embodiment the separate collar member and closure member utilized in the previously described embodiment are formed integrally as a one-piece member. The closure-collar member, designated generally by the numeral 75, includes a generally cylindrical upper collar portion 76 having interior threads 77. A lower skirt portion 57a is integrally formed with the upper collar and has the same construction as described hereinbefore for the lower skirt portion 57 on the collar 56 of the first embodiment, including opposed airventopen- ings 84-84.Closure-collar member 75 includes a top section 78 integrally formed with the upper collar portion 76, the lower skirt portion 57a of the collar, and the lower skirt portion 79 of the closure. A cylindrical gasket 85 is positioned on the underside of flange member 52. The inside wall 80 of the skirt portion 79 is provided with a plurality of spaced apart lug threads 81. The leading end 82 of each lug thread is provided with a shoulder 83 which is adapted to engage a recess provided in the underside of the spiral threads formed on the neck of the container that is to be used with this type of closure to provide a child-resistant closure system for the pump and the container.

The piston assembly used in this embodiment is the same as that used in the foregoing described embodiment. As seen in Figure 3 in this alternate embodiment of the dispenser pump the flange 52 at the top of the body 15 can be attached to the underside of the top section 78 of the closure collar member by means of spin welding, or sonic welding, or adhesives, or snap engaging members to assemble these two components.

The majority of the components of the pump can be made by injection molding any suitable thermoplastics material, such as polypropylene, high density polyethylene, polycarbonate, acetal, ABS or other suitable semi-rigid thermoplastics material. The spring is preferably made from a stainless steel material. Both the upper and the lower ball check valves may also be made of stainless steei. However, either or both of the check valves may be made of a plastics material, such as polycarbonate or nylon.

The invention includes, of course, a combination of a pump assembly of the invention and a handheld container for a liquid.

Claims

1. A hand-operated pump assembly comprising: (a) a hollow cylindrical body having an open upper end and an open lower end; (b) a piston slidably received in the body and provided with a stem extending from the piston and out through the upper end of the body; (c) means within the body for upwardly biasing the piston; (d) a collar member having a substantially central opening which slidably receives the stem and having a lower end skirt portion redeived in the open upper end of the body; and (e) means for coupling the body to the collar member.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1,wherein the means (e) for coupling the body to the collar member includes a closure adapted to close a container with which the assembly is to be used.

3. An assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein the biasing means (c) is a spring.

4. An assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the coupling means (e) includes a flange on the upper end of the body, a flange on the collar member, and holding means cooperating with the closure for coupling the said flanges together.

5. An assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the holding means includes at least two fingers extending upwardly from the flange on the upper end of the body and projecting through openings provided in the flange on the collar member, the closure being a closure cap which is adapted to engage the fingers so as to retain the lower end skirt portion of the collar member within the opening at the upper end of the body.

6. An assembly as claimed in claim 5, wherein the holding means includes outwardly extending shoulders on the ends of the fingers and the closure cap has an opening in a top surface thereof which receives the collar member, the closure cap being positioned between the shoulders on the ends ofthe fingers and the top of the flange on the collar member.

7. An assembly as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the collar member has recessed portions extending above the openings provided in the flange on the collar member adapted to receive the fingers on the body.

8. An assembly as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the flange on the collar member has two opposed straight parallel side portions.

9. A hand-operated pump assembly comprising: (a) a hollow cylindrical body having an open upper end and an open lower end; (b) a piston unit including a piston slidably received in the body and provided with a stem attached thereto extending from the piston and out through the upper end of the body; (c) spring means within the body for upwardly biasing the piston; (d) a separate collar member with a central opening which slidably receives the stem and having a lower end skirt portion received in the open upper end ofthe body; and (e) means including a closure for coupling the body to the collar member.

10. An assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the collar member is integrally formed with a closure to provide an integral closure-collar member which has an annular top section and an integrally formed downwardly depending cylindrical skirt section provided with a plurality of lug thread members on the interior wall thereof which are adapted to engage external threads provided on the neck of a container with which the pump assembly is to be used.

11. An assembly as claimed in claim 10, wherein the lug members are provided with barbed points on their leading ends which are adapted to be received in recesses provided in the underside of threads on the neck of the container.

12. An assembly as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 11, wherein the lower end skirt portion of the collar member comprises an outer skirt and an inner skirt separated by an annular space.

13. An assembly as claimed in claim 12, wherein the inner and outer skirts are joined at their upper end by a transverse wall section which has at least one opening therein.

14. An assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein the body is provided with an opening in its side wall which communicates with the opening in the transverse wall section joining the collar member inner and outer skirts when the piston is in the depressed position.

15. An assembly as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 14, wherein the piston is provided with a thin annular outwardly directed upper skirt which makes sliding contact with the inner wall of the body and a lower skirt which has an annular bead around the outside thereof which makes sliding contact with the inner wall of the body.

16. A hand-operated pump assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1,2, to 9 and 11 or in Figures 1,2 and 11 when modified by Figures 3 and 10 of the accompanying drawings.

17. Acombination of an assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16 and a hand-held container for a liquid.