GB2145060A - Fluid-dispensing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

A unit for dispensing windscreen washing fluid from a filling station forecourt comprises a power-driven pump 14 actuated for a predetermined time by a coin- freed mechanism to draw fluid from a transparent plastics container 15 and supply it via a tension-coiled hose to a hand nozzle. The pump, the coin-freed mechanism 12 and the fluid container are all surrounded by a free-standing or wall-mounted casing which incorporates a holster for the trigger-controlled nozzle. A resilient clip on the nozzle body locates the nozzle inside the neck of a vehicle's windscreen washer bottle in use, and there are electrical filamentary heating means built into the hose to prevent the fluid from freezing in the hose. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Fluid dispensing unit The invention relates to a unit for dispensing windscreen washing fluid from a filling station forecourt or other suitable location.

Windscreen washing fluid is conventionally sold in sachets which contain limited quantities. These are awkward to open and to fill cleanly into a windscreen washer bottle. The invention seeks to overcome these difficulties.

According to the invention, such a unit comprises a power-driven pump; a coin-freed mechanism which, when freed, actuates the pump drive for a pre-determined time; and, in use, a container from which the pump draws fluid and which when spent can be removed and replaced with a similar container of new fluid; the pump outlet feeds a hand-held nozzle which is trigger-controlled and is connected to the said outlet by a hose which allows a user to carry the nozzle away from and back to the unit without breaking the fluid supply; and the unit is a free-standing or wall-mounted unit and the pump, the coinfreed mechanism and the container are surrounded in use by a casing which forms part of the unit and incorporates a holster for the nozzle.

The nozzle body may advantageously incorporate some means, for example a resilient clip, which when applied to the opened neck of a windscreen washing bottle releasably but positively locates the nozzle outlet within the neck. This enables the user to fill up or to top up the bottle without having to pay undue attention to maintaining the nozzle position as he does so.

Preferably the hose is a flexible plastics hose which may be tension-coiled and which also may be heated-for example by a filament incorporated within the hose wall-in which case the heater may also advantageously be carried on the unit and surrounded by the casing.

The casing may advantageously be so shaped as to shroud the nozzle and the hose from above when the nozzle is sitting in its holster. This reduces the risk of the fluid supply icing up in cold weather.

Where the container is transparent-for example made of transparent resilient plastics material-it may advantageously be accommodated, in use, behind a part of the unit casing which is slotted so as to afford, through the slot and the transparent container wall, a view of the level of fluid within the container. This does away with the need for a more sophisticated sightglass arrangement.

In practical embodiments the pump may be a positive displacement pump whose piston is driven back and forth by a worm and worm wheel drive, the piston being screwthreaded into the worm wheel along the worm wheel axis and moving linearly along its own axis as the worm wheel rotates. This enables the amount of fluid dispensed by the pump to be accurately metered.

Successive limit switches actuated by the movement of the piston, may stop the piston drive after respective pre-determined amounts of piston movement. For example, where the coin-freed mechanism accepts coins of differing value, and/adds and acts in accordance with, the value of a succession of coins.

One fluid dispensing unit embodying the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings. It will now be described with reference to those drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows the unit components schematically; Figure 2 shows the finished unit in side elevation; Figure 2A, drawn to an enlarged scale, shows the trigger-controlled nozzle of the unit; Figure 3, drawn to a larger scale still, shows the dispostion of the pump above the container of fluid; and Figure 4, drawn to an enlarged scale again, shows in longitudinal section the pump and pump drive.

In Fig. 1, a fabricated metal or moulded plastics casing is adapted for mounting on its back-face 11 against the wall or against an upright post of a filling station forecourt. The means of mounting are conventional and need not be described or illustrated.

The unit carries, inside its casing, a coinfreed mechanism 1 2 and associated coin receiving cash box 13; an electrically-driven positive displacement pump 14; and a transparent resilient plastics container 1 5 of windscreen washing fluid. The coin-freed mechanism 1 2 and cashbox 1 3 are both conventional in design, and the fluid container 1 5 is similarly known and this particular example is a nominal five litre container with a screw-cap 16.

As Fig. 2 shows, one side of the casing exhibits a coin-receiving slot 1 7 and, adjacent that slot, an operating light 1 8 which lights up when the coin has been inserted and the coin-freed mechanism 1 2 has accepted it. On the same side of the casing, a panel 1 9 can be removed to give access to the coin-freed mechanism 1 2 and its cashbox 13, and also to give access to the pump 1 4 for maintenance.

Below the panel 19, a larger panel 21 fits into place and is held there by a key-operated lock 22. When the lock 22 is unfastened, the panel 21 can be removed to give access to the container 1 5. As each container 1 5 is progressively spent, ie. emptied, it can be removed and replaced with another container full of new fluid.

The panel 21 contains an elongate vertical slot 23. This slot 23 fits immediately in front of the side-wall of the container 1 5. It affords, together with the transparent side-wall of the container, a direct view of the level of liquid within the container.

Referring again to Fig. 1, the outlet 24 from the screw-cap 1 6 of the container 1 5 feeds into the inlet of the pump 1 4. The outlet 25 from the pump feeds direct to a tension-coiled hose which is referenced 26 and is illustrated specifically in Fig. 2. The term "tension-coiled hose" is used to describe a form of hose already well-known in itself for fluid supply lines and, in other fields, for such things as the electric cable to a telephone hand-set.

The hose 26 feeds into the barrel of a trigger-controlled nozzle 27. As Fig. 2A shows, the nozzle outlet is not necessarily jetshaped. In this particular instance it is a plain non-constricted outlet. It could, with advantage, be a jet, for example a convergent divergent "nozzle" in the aerodynamic sense.

The casing which carries the components of the unit incorporates a holster 28 for the nozzle 27. In this embodiment the holster is not shaped to shroud and surround the nozzle. It is a straightforward hook from which the nozzle 27 hangs.

The trigger which controls the output of fluid from the nozzle ensures, first that no fluid flows from the nozzle until the trigger is squeezed; second, that flow stops when the trigger is released; and third, that only as much fluid as is supplied by the pump, irrespective of how long the trigger continues to be squeezed, is supplied in total each time a coin is inserted into the coin-freed mechanism. In this way, a motorist can purchase an appropriate amount of fluid and can deliver it to his windscreen washer bottle in controlled amounts, until he has used up his allocation.

As well as supplying windscreen washing fluid, this particular unit has a separate hose and nozzle (not illustrated) to give a fresh water supply. The water inlet is indicated at 29 in Fig. 1, and leaves the unit casing at 31 alongside the hose 26 supplying the fluid nozzle 27. The water supply and its delivery pump are not contained within the unit but are led into the unit casing from elsewhere.

As Figs. 1 and 2 show between them, the casing is so shaped that it overhangs (at 32) and shrouds the nozzle 27 and the fluid supplying hose 26 when the nozzle is its holster 28.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, the pump 14 carries its own electric pump drive motor which is referenced 34 in Fig. 3. The output shaft of this motor carries a worm gear 35, which meshes with an rotates a worm wheel 36 held captive but rotatable within the casing 37 of the pump. This casing 37 incorporates a flange 37A which is bolted at 38, 39 to the motor 34 as illustrated in Fig. 3.

The piston rod 41 of a piston 42 is screwthreaded into the similarly screw-threaded centre of the worm wheel 36, so that as the wheel 36 rotates about its axis, then the rod 41 will move linearly back and forth along its own axis. As the rod so moves, the piston head 42 moves with it inside the bore 43 of the pump casing 37. As Fig. 4 shows, the inlet 24 and outlet 25 of the pump each open into the bore 43 via respective spring-loaded ball-bearing non-return valves 46, 47. The valve seatings and passages are formed in a circular disc 48 which is a press-fit or screwfit into the main pump casing 37, whilst the inlet and outlet ports respectively are formed in a similar but larger disc 49 which press fits or screws into the pump casing once the disc 48 has been fitted or screwed into place.

An O-ring 51 seals the piston against its bore cheaply and efficiently.

The pump 14 is electrically actuated whenever a coin is received and accepted by the coin-freed mechanism 1 2. As the piston rod 41 travels to the right (when viewed as in Fig.

4) to deliver fluid, it allows the normally depressed plungers of a series of microswitches 52, 53, 54 to rise in succession.

Each of these microswitches cuts off the drive to the pump, and stops the piston 42 from advancing any farther. If the coin-freed mechanism 1 2 accepts only coins of one value, a succession of three coins will have to be fed into it before the full volume of the pump will be discharged by the piston. If, on the other hand, the coin-freed unit 1 2 will accept coins of different value, and/or add and act on the values of a succession of coins fed into one after another without any appreciable gap between them, then the motorist can use as much or as little of the single pumping of fluid as he desires.

As Fig. 2A shows, a resilient plastics clip 55 is moulded into the nozzle body 27 of the fluid dispensing unit. In use, this enables the nozzle 27 to be positively clipped on to the opened neck of a windscreen washing bottle or bag, and left there, whilst the motorist concentrates on triggering the appropriate amount of fluid into it. The clip 55 could be replaced by some other means of posistively but releasably locating the nozzle outlet within the neck, for example, a simple projection rather than a clip, or alternatively a disc surrounding the nozzle body and iocating around the lip of the opened neck of the windscreen washer bottle or bag in use.

The casing of the overall unit is closed in, once the panels 19 and 21 are in place, over the whole of its exterior surface. The hose 26, and the (not illustrated) similar hose for the water supply, emerge from the casing through suitable apertures, but there are no other substantial apertures in the casing.

In Fig. 1, a heater is illustrated to supply an electric resistance filament built into the wall of the hose 26. The details of this need not be elaborated. They can be selected from known alternatives by the intended skilled reader.

A non-return valve is incorporated in the end of the nozzle 27 to prevent fluid leaking out.

Claims (9)

1. A unit for dispensing windscreen washing fluid from a filling station forecourt or other suitable location and comprising a power-driven pump; a coin-freed mechanism which, when freed, actuates the pump drive for a pre-determined time; and, in use, a container from which the pump draws fluid and which when spent can be removed and replaced with a similar container of new fluid; the pump outlet feeds a hand-held nozzle which is trigger-controlled and is connected to the said outlet by a hose which allows a user to carry the nozzle away from and back to the unit without breaking the fluid supply; and the unit is a free-standing or wall-mounted unit and the pump, the coin-freed mechanism and the container are surrounded in use by a casing which forms part of the unit and incorporates a holster for the nozzle.

2. A unit according to Claim 1 and in which the nozzle body incorporates means, for example a resilient clip, which when applied to the opened neck of a windscreen washing bottle releasably but positively locates the nozzle outlet within the neck.

3. A unit according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 and in which the hose is a flexible plastics hose whcih is tension-coiled and is also heated by a filament incorporated within the hose wall.

4. A unit according to Claim 3 and in which is carried on the unit and surrounded by the casing.

5. A unit according to any of the preceding Claims and in which the casing is so shaped as to shroud the nozzle and the hose from above when the nozzle is sitting in its holster.

6. A unit according to any of the preceding Claims and in which the container is transparent and is accommodated, in use, behind a part of the unit casing which is slotted so as to afford, through the slot and the transparent container wall, a view of the level of fluid within the container.

7. A unit according to any of the preceding Claims and in which the pump is a positive displacement pump whose piston is driven back and forth by a worm and worm wheel drive, the piston being screwthreaded into the worm wheel along the worm wheel axis and moving linearly along its own axis as the worm wheel rotates.

8. A unit according to Claim 7 and in which successive limit switches, actuated by the movement of the piston, stop the piston drive after respective predetermined amounts of piston movement.

9. A fluid-dispensing unit substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.