GB2223222A - Liquid-dispensing apparatus for liquid-containing cartons - Google Patents

Abstract

A liquid-dispensing cap for fitting over a liquid carton comprises a top wall (11), a pair of opposed side walls (12) depending from the top wall and forming a cavity for snugly receiving at least a top portion of the carton, a hollow piercing member (22) projecting downwardly from the top wall for piercing a hole in the top of said carton, and a liquid dispensing member (23) in the form of an infant's drinking spout or teat in fluid communication with the piercing member. A latch member (14) is provided projecting inwardly from at least one side wall for locating behind an outward projection on a carton pushed into said cavity. <IMAGE>

Description

LIQUID DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR LIQUID CONTAINING CARTONS The present invention relates in a first aspect to a liquid dispensing cap for fitting over a liquid containing carton to facilitate emptying of the contents thereof and in a second aspect to apparatus for use with such a carton to enable infants to drink therefrom.

Liquids, especially consumable liquids, are frequently now packaged in flat topped parallelipedal cartons formed from tubes of laminated plastics, metal foil and cardboard. Such cartons are not always easy to open. A jug has been proposed previously in which such a carton can be received which has a top equipped with a hollow piercing member and a pouring spout.

This is intended for 1 litre size cartons and is not very satisfactory in use, being prone to leak. Also it is a large object to store when not in use.

The present invention provides a liquid dispensing cap for fitting over a liquid carton and comprising a top wall and at least a pair of opposed side walls depending from the top wall forming a cavity for snuggly receiving at least a top portion of a said carton, a hollow piercing member projecting downwardly from said top wall for piercing a hole in the top of said carton, and a liquid dispensing member in fluid communication with said piercing member.

In order to produce a secure grip by the cap on the carton so as to prevent movement of the piercing member in the carton top leading to leakage preferably said pair of opposed side walls project down from the top wall at least 30mm, more preferably by at least 45mm.

The cap may comprise a second pair of opposed side walls which may be laterally separated from the first pair or may be joined thereto forming with the first said pair of circumambient wall depending form said top wall. The one said pair of side walls may be substantially deeper than the other said pair. The gap thereby left between the lower portions of the one said pair of side walls may assist a user to grip a carton for removal from the cap.

A latch member may be provided projecting inwardly from at least one said side wall for locating behind an outward projection on a carton pushed into said cavity thereby to restrain removal of the carton.

Preferably a respective said latch member is provided on each of at least two opposed said side walls. The side walls bearing the latch members may be resiliently outwardly deformable and for this purpose may depend from the top wall without being connected to adjacent side walls.

The liquid dispensing member may be a pouring spout or may be a drinking spout to be taken into the mouth.

Smaller sizes of such cartons are conventionally provided in their top wall with a small circular portion in which the cardboard layer of the laminate is missing so that a pointed plastics straw can easily be pushed through to provide easy access to the contents for drinking. Small children either cannot drink via a straw or are liable to create a mess when using such a carton. It would be desirable to provide means of access to the contents of such cartons for drinking to be used by small children or even babies.

Accordingly, the liquid dispensing member of a cap as described above may be of a kind adapted for drinking from by an infant.

Thus, the dispensing member may take the form of an infants drinking spout as found conventionally on trainer cups or even the form of a babies bottle teat.

Preferably, the said dispensing member is removable, e.g. to facilitate cleaning the inside of the dispensing member.

The top wall may comprise a dispensing member receiving portion having a floor from which said piercing member depends, and a wall bordering and upstanding from said floor within which wall or over which wall the said dispensing member is locatable.

The dispensing member may comprise a base, a hollow drinking projection rising from the base and a skirt wall depending from the base for fitting within or over the said wall of the dispensing member receiving portion.

The dispensing member may comprise a projecting lifting tab for assisting removal thereof from the cap.

Thus said spout may be substantially rigid and may comprise one or more liquid outlet holes of restricted size, e.g. not greater than 3mm2 in area (equivalent to a diameter of about 2mm if circular), or more preferably not greater than 0.5mm2 in area (corresponding to a diameter of about lmm if circular).

In an alternative aspect, the invention includes apparatus for adapting a liquid containing carton to enable an infant to drink therefrom comprising a top member for overlying the top of a said carton, means for locating the top member fixed with respect to said carton top, a hollow piercing member projecting downwardly from said top member, and an infants drinking spout or teat, removably locatable on said top member in fluid communication with said piercing member.

Such apparatus may comprise an open topped box acting as a base to receive the carton to which base the top is fitted. In this case the carton is preferably securely located when in the base, e.g. is gripped by opposed walls of the base, so as to prevent play between the carton and the piercing member.

The invention will be illustrated by the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a dispensing cap according to the invention, Figure 2 is a section on the line A-A of Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a end elevation of the cap of Figures 1 and 2.

The cap 10 shown in Figure 1 comprises a top wall 11 and a pair of oppositely disposed side walls 12 depending therefrom. A second pair of oppositely disposed side walls 13 lie within the ambit of side walls 12 and at their distal ends are provided with inwardly and upwardly facing latching lugs 14. Side walls 13 do not extend across the whole distance between the side walls 12.

Outwardly of the side walls 13, the side walls 12 are curved around toward one another and toward the top of the container are joined to form an outwardly bulged shield portion 15 lying outside each side wall 13 and spaced therefrom.

The side walls 13 and the shield members 15 extend down from the top by somewhat less than half of the depth of the side walls 12 so that an opening 16 is left beneath each of the side walls 13.

The top wall of the cap is provided with a depression 17 having the following components. A shallow tongue shaped depression 18 extends longitudinally of the top wall and joins a larger circular well 19 defined by a vertical circumambient wall 20 and having a floor 21. Depending from the floor 21 is a hollow piercing member 22 which lies to one side of the longitudinal centre line of the cap and is of circular cross-section tapering towards its open lower end.

Received within the well 19 is a removable drinking spout 23 which comprises a base 24 from which rises a spout projection 25 and from which depends a skirt wall 26 which is received within the circumambient wall 20 of the well in the top wall of the cap. A lifting tab 27 projects parallel to and spaced a little above the floor of the tongue shaped depression 18 in the top wall of the cap. A plurality of small liquid outlet holes 28 are provided in the tip of spout projection 25. Each is suitably a circular hole of about 0.75mm diameter.

The entire article may be moulded in two pieces in plastics such as polypropylene.

The cap illustrated is adapted to recieve a standard drinks carton of the kind described earlier so that the piercing member 22 is aligned with and pierces the area in the top of the carton intended to receive a straw. The side walls 12 and the side walls 13 grip the carton securely preventing play between the piercing member 22 and the carton so that a good seal is maintained around the piercing member 22. The lugs 14 latch beneath the folded over corner tabs of the carton making the carton difficult to remove, particularly by an infant. The long side walls 12 cover substantially all or a large part of the side walls of the carton preventing an infant from squeezing the carton to expel liquid from it. The drinking spout 25 is detachable for washing. A partially empty or full carton may be removed from the cap by an adult by drawing back the side walls 13 to release the latching lugs 14 by squeezing the side walls 13 and the shield walls 15 between finger and thumb. An empty carton may easily be removed by compressing the carton through the openings 16 to release it from the lugs 14.

Many modifications and variations of the embodiment illustrated are possible within the scope of the invention.

For instance, the drinking spout may be a screw fit in the well 19. In place of the trainer type drinking spout illustrated, a babies bottle teat may be provided.

Instead of a drinking spout, a pouring spout may be provided. The cap may be made in a size suitable to fit a 1 litre or 2 litre drinks carton to enable easy access to and easy pouring of the contents of such a carton.

Claims (18)

1. A liquid dispensing cap for fitting over a liquid carton and comprising a top wall and at least a pair of opposed side walls depending from the top wall forming a cavity for snuggly receiving at least a top portion of a said carton, a hollow piercing member projecting downwardly from said top wall for piercing a hole in the top of said carton, and a liquid dispensing member in fluid communication with said piercing member.

2. A cap as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said pair of opposed side walls project down from the top wall at least 30mm.

3. A cap as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said pair of opposed side walls project down from the top wall by at least 45mm.

4. A cap a claimed in any preceding claim, comprising a second pair of opposed side walls further delimiting the said cavity.

5. A cap as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the one said pair of side walls is substantially deeper than the other said pair.

6. A cap a claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a latch member is provided projecting inwardly from at least one said side wall for locating behind an outward projection on a carton pushed into said cavity thereby to restrain removal of the carton.

7. A cap a claimed in Claim 6, wherein a respective said latch member is provided on each of at least two opposed said side walls.

8. A cap as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said liquid dispensing member is adapted for drinking from by an infant.

9. A cap a claimed in Claim 8, wherein the said dispensing member is removable.

10. A cap as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the top wall comprises a dispensing member receiving portion having a floor from which said piercing member depends, and a wall bordering and upstanding from said floor within which wall or over which wall the said dispensing member is locatable.

11. A cap a claimed in Claim 11, wherein the dispensing member comprises a base, a hollow drinking projection rising from the base and a skirt wall depending from the base for fitting within or over the said wall of the dispensing member receiving portion.

12. A cap as claimed in any one of Claims 9 to 11, wherein the dispensing member comprises a projecting lifting tab for assisting removal thereof from the cap.

13. A cap as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the dispensing member is in an infants drinking spout.

14. A cap as claimed in Claim 13, wherein said spout is substantially rigid and comprises one or more liquid outlet holes of restricted size.

15. A cap as claimed in Claim 14, wherein said hole or holes are not greater than 3mm2 in cross-sectional area.

16. A cap a claimed in Claim 14, wherein said hole or holes are not greater than 0.5mm2 in cross-sectional area.

17. A liquid dispensing cap substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

18. Apparatus for adapting a liquid containing carton to enable an infant to drink therefrom comprising a top member for overlying the top of a said carton, means for locating the top member fixed with respect to said carton top, a hollow piercing member projecting downwardly from said top member, and an infants drinking spout or teat, removably locatable on said top member in fluid communication with said piercing member.