GB2342339A

GB2342339A - Apparatus for dispensing the contents of a mouthed container

Info

Publication number: GB2342339A
Application number: GB9821441A
Authority: GB
Inventors: William Ramsay Stephens
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-10-03
Filing date: 1998-10-03
Publication date: 2000-04-12
Also published as: AU6108699A; WO2000019879A1; GB9821441D0

Abstract

Apparatus for dispensing the content eg. solid foods such as gherkins or viscous fluids such as mayonnaise of a container 10 comprising a plate 1, and elongate handling means 5 eg. rigid stem, string or ribbon for lifting the plate thereby lifting any contents of the container 10 to dispense it progressively. The plate 1 may be perforated, resiliently deformable and substantially the same as the cross-section of the inner surface of the wall of the container 10 between its base and its top to allow a relative sliding motion whilst the plate 1 lifts the contents. The container 10 may be of generally uniform cross-section. When the container 10 contains a viscous fluid the plate 1 may seal against the wall to lift substantially all the fluid content progressively, leaving a void below the plate. The rigid stem 5 may have lateral formations 6 disposed along its length in the form of hooks for engaging the edge of the mouth 12 of the container 10 to prevent it dropping back into the container 10. The stem 5 and plate 1 are preferably separately-manufactured plastics components formed to interlock during assembly prior to insertion into the container. The plate 1 may be a plastic disc divided into sectors (101 to 105, Figure 2) by radial slots (201 - 205, Figure 2) with strengthening ribs (4, Figure 3) extending radially along each of the sectors. The disc may have sloped projections (2, Figure 3) provided adjacent to a central slot for detaining the limb of the L-shaped base of the stem (5 Figure 4) in a locked position. Part of the stem may be made narrower (7, Figure 4) in order to encourage the hinging movement of the stem 5 in use.

Description

2342339 Apparatus For Dispensing The Contents Of A Mouthed Container This

invention relates to apparatus for dispensing the contents of a mouthed container of generally uniform cross-section between its base and its mouth, and is particularly but not exclusively useful for use in food containers such as jars of olives and pickled onions. The invention also relates to a mouthed container including the dispensing apparatus, and to a method of production of those things.

Solid foods such as olives, gherkins, pickled onions and eggs are sold in a preserving liquid in a bottle or jar with a lid over a wide mouth. The mouth provides access to the top portion of the contents, using fingers or appropriate cutlery. A difficulty with this arrangement is that once the food at the top of the bottle or jar has been used it becomes increasingly difficult to reach items lower down, and it often becomes necessary to decant the remaining contents into a smaller container.

Similar problems are encountered with receptacles for more viscous fluids such as mayonnaise, ketchup and non-food products such as face cream and hair gel. It becomes necessary to invert the receptacle and to strike its base or to leave it for a period of time to allow the contents to drop slowly towards the mouth.

In order to overcome or at least mitigate such problems, the invention provides apparatus for dispensing the contents of a mouthed container of generally uniform cross-section between its base and the top near its mouth, comprising a plate for sliding against the inner wall of the container between its base and the top near its mouth, and means for driving the plate in use from the base steadily to the top thereby lifting any contents of the container to dispense them progressively at the mouth.

The invention also provides a mouthed container of generally uniform crosssection between its base and the top near its mouth and apparatus according to the invention as defined immediately above for dispensing its contents, the periphery of the plate being substantially the same as the cross-section of the inner surface of the wall of the container between its base and its top to allow a relative sliding motion whilst the plate lifts the contents.

Further, the invention provides a method of production of a container according to the invention, for fluids and/or solids, comprising fully inserting a dispensing apparatus through the mouth of the container. Preferably, the method involves the further step of filling the container with vendible contents.

In order that the invention may be better understood, preferred embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which:

Figures 1A and 1B illustrate the use of the invention in a jar of pickled onions; Figure 2 illustrates the stem, and Figure 3 illustrates the plate, of a two-part dispensing tool in accordance with the invention; and Figure 4 illustrates a modification of the two-part tool of Figures 2 and 3.

With reference first to Figure 1A, a standard glass jar 10 contains solids, in the form of pickled onions in this case, in a preserving fluid, in this case vinegar.

The jar has a neck 11 opening at a mouth 12, and these are narrower than its walls which are of uniform cross-section between the base and the top, near the mouth. In this case, the cross-section is circular, below the neck, and the bottle generally cylindrical. Also in this example the bottle is screw-threaded for engagement with a lid (not shown).

Food dispensing apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a circular plate 1 to which is hinged at its centre an elongate, rigid stem 5 having a late rally-projecti n g hook 6. The stem 5 is sufficiently tall to have its upper handle end adjacent to the mouth 12 of the bottle 10, but not 5 so tall that it projects from the mouth 12 to interfere with the closed lid.

As shown in Figure 1B, the pickled onions can progressively be dispensed through the mouth of the container simply by grasping the handle end of the stem 5 and lifting it. The dispensing apparatus can be held in a raised position by engaging the hook 6 over the edge of the mouth 12 as shown in Figure 1 B. The stem flexes or hinges relative to the horizontal plate 1 sufficiently to allow the hook to engage the edge in this way. As the plate 1 is raised, apertures (not shown) in the plate 1, andlor a narrow annular gap between the periphery of the plate and the inner wall of the container 10, allow the vinegar or other fluid to drain to the bottom of the container, whilst the pickled onions can be removed selectively from the platform afforded by the plate 1. The solids may be removed either by fingers or by appropriate cutlery, or else by tipping the whole container to allow them to fall under gravity from the mouth of the container without risking spillage of the fluid.

The annular gap between the periphery of the plate and the inner wall of the container 10 is sized such that the pickled onions do not fall through the gap.

The bottle can of course be reclosed by unhooking the stem 5 and lowering the plate 1 back to the base of the container 10. The solid contents then settle back into the container.

A preferred form of the dispensing tool is shown in more detail in Figures 2 and 3 which show respectively the stem portion and the plate portion. The stem 5 in Figure 2 has four hooks 6, instead of just the one hook of Figure 1A and Figure 1 B, and this allows the plate 1 to be supported selectively at four different heights to suit the proportion of the solid contents remaining in the bottle. Of course any number of such lateral projections could be provided, to suit the particular product.

The stem 5 of Figure 2 has a circular disk 3 at its base, connected by a short 5 axial stem 32 to the laterally projecting limb 31 of the L-shaped base of the stem 5.

As shown in Figure 3, the plate 1 comprises a circular plastics disk divided into five sectors 101 to 105 by radial slots 201 to 205 which extend to the edge. The disk 1 has a central elongate slot 30 for receiving the stem 5, the slot being slightly longer than the width of the stem including the hooks 6.

Figure 3 is an underneath plan view of the disk 1, and shows five strengthening ribs 4, extending radially along each of the sectors 101 to 105 midway between the slots 201 to 205 which bound the respective sectors.

On the upper face of the disk 1, two sloped projections 2 are provided adjacent to the central slot 30, for detaining the limb 31 of the Lshaped base of the stem 5 of Figure 2.

The dispensing apparatus of Figures 2 and 3 is assembled by threading the stem 5 through the slot 30 from the underside until the disk 3 engages the under surface of the disk 1. The stem 5 is then rotated through a quarter turn to push the limb 31 over the sloping cam surface of one of the locking projections 2, so that it is lodged between the two projections 2; the limb 31 is sufficiently resiliently deformable to allow this to happen. The stem 5 is then locked against the disk 1. In this position, the disk 3 of the stem abuts against the ends of the reinforcing ribs 4, preventing any significant flexure of the disk sectors 1 downwardly. This helps to support the contents of the bottle as the stem lifts them in use. However, the sectors 101 to 105 are effectively hinged to the stem 5 by the material of the disk 1, and this allows flexure upwardly, to allow the dispensing apparatus to be inserted through the narrower neck of the bottle during assembly, In a modification shown in Figure 4, the disk is formed with an upturned edge 8 to resist sideways tilting motion of the plate 1. Also, part of the body of the stem 5 is thinned at 7 to increase its flexibility at that point, to encourage the hinging movement of the stem in use, as shown by the arrow in Figure 4. Further, the shape of the hooks 6 is shown as being less angular.

The embodiments of the invention described with reference to Figures 1A and 1 B, 2, 3 and 4 are particularly suitable for manual use, by grasping the stem through the mouth of a bottle or jar. It will be appreciated that the dispensing apparatus may take many different forms and be made of many different materials, for example a one piece plastics moulding.

The invention may also be used with receptacles for viscous fluids such as mayonnaise, ketchup, face cream and hair gel. In this case, the disk 1 would not be perforated, and it would seal tightly against the inner wall of the receptacle which would be normally generally tubular. In this case, the entire contents of the receptacle are conveyed by the disk 1 from the base to the top of the receptacle, for ease of access to the fluid contents or to dispense the contents through the mouth, e.g. by extrusion through a substantially narrower opening or nozzle. In place of the stem 5, the plate or disk 1 is driven upwardly, or pulled towards the mouth, by a flexible string, rope or ribbon, preferably of plastics material, attached to the disk preferably at its centre. There is no need to return the disk to the base of the receptacle, and as the string or ribbon projects progressively more from the container in use, it simply hangs over the side and may be wiped clean or cut off as required. It is preferred that the string or ribbon should be rather longer than the height of the container so that it may hang over the side even when the disk is at the base of the container, to afford an initial grip. If the ribbon is sufficiently thin, then it will not interfere with the lid of the receptacle which may be replaced with ease. Alternatively, the string or ribbon could be secured to the inside of the lid itself, or it could be arranged to pass through an aperture in the lid sealingly, and the product could then be sold with the end of the string or ribbon secured to the top face of the lid. Obviously many different arrangements are possible and only examples are given here.

It is not essential for the container to be of generally uniform crosssection between 10 its base and the top near its mouth. The container may be tapered or shaped, for example in a frusto-conical form.

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Claims

1. Apparatus for dispensing the contents of a mouthed container comprising a plate for sliding against the inner wall of the container between its base and its top, and means for driving the plate in use from the base steadily to the top thereby lifting any contents of the container to dispense them progressively at the mouth.

2. A mouthed container of generally uniform cross-section between its base and the top near its mouth, and apparatus according to Claim 1 for dispensing its contents, the periphery of the plate being substantially the same as the cross- section of the inner surface of the wall of the container between its base and its top to allow a relative sliding motion whilst the plate lifts the contents.

3. A mouthed container according to Claim 2, in the form of a jar or bottle for containing solids in a liquid, in which the plate is perforated to allow the liquid to drop through the plate as the solids are lifted.

4. A mouthed container according to Claim 3, in which the mouth of the jar or bottle includes a neck narrower than the wall, and the plate is resiliently deformable sufficiently to allow its insertion through the neck.

5. A mouthed container according to Claim 2, in the form of a bottle or other tubular container for a viscous fluid, in which the plate seals against the wall to lift substantially all the fluid content progressively, leaving a void below the plate.

6. Dispensing apparatus according to Claim 1 or a mouthed container according to any of Claims 2 - 5, in which the driving means is an elongate attachment to the plate extending at least to the container mouth, for pulling the plate from outside the container.

7. Dispensing apparatus or a mouthed container according to Claim 6, in which the elongate attachment is a string or ribbon long enough to hang over the outside of the container when the plate is at the base.

8. Dispensing apparatus or a mouthed container according to Claim 6 or 7, 5 comprising a container lid with an aperture through which the elongate attachment may pass sealingly.

9. Dispensing apparatus or a mouthed container according to Claim 6, in which the elongate attachment is a rigid stem having a handle end at the container mouth, such that the stem projects from the container progressively in use as the contents are dispensed.

10. Dispensing apparatus or a mouthed container according to Claim 9, in which the stem has lateral formations disposed along its length for holding the stem at the mouth of the container to prevent it dropping back into the container.

11. Dispensing apparatus or a mouthed container according to Claim 10, in 15 which the lateral formations comprise hooks for engaging the edge of the mouth of the container.

12. Dispensing apparatus according to Claim 1 or a mouthed container according to Claim 4, in which the plate is resiliently deformable preferentially in a direction normal to its plane to allow its easy passage through the neck into but not out from the container.

13. Dispensing apparatus or a mouthed container according to Claim 9, in which the stem and plate are separately-m anufactu red plastics components formed so as to interlock during assembly and prior to insertion into a container.

14. A method of production of a container according to Claim 2 or any preceding Claim dependant on Claim 2, for fluids andlor solids, comprising fully inserting the dispensing apparatus through the mouth of the container.

15. A method of production according to Claim 14, comprising the further step of 5 filling the container with vendible contents after fully inserting the dispensing apparatus.

16. Dispensing apparatus substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

17. A container including dispensing apparatus for its contents, substantially as 10 described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

18. A method of production of a container, substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

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