KR19990083609A - Fluid pump dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

The fluid pump dispenser includes a pump cylinder forming a pump chamber with a valve controlled product inlet passage leading to the chamber, a manually reciprocating pump plunger having a hollow stem forming a discharge passage exiting the chamber, and a relative sliding motion. A pump piston mounted on the inner end of the stem, the body having a plunger return spring for biasing the plunger to the raised position and a piston constrained for relative sliding motion between the outlet open and closed positions, The piston has an annular projection which forms in its inner end position an outlet valve seated inside an annular groove of a plug member fixedly mounted to the stem. An idle effect is created between the piston and the stem which closes the outlet valve during the compression stroke and opens the outlet during the suction stroke. The plunger may be fixed in the raised and lowered position, the outer surface of the plug member closing the inlet passage closed in the lower locking position of the plunger.

Description

Fluid Pump Dispenser {FLUID PUMP DISPENSER}

The present invention relates to a fluid pump dispenser of the type having a pump body having a pump cylinder forming a pump chamber and a valve-controlled product inlet passage leading to the chamber. The manually reciprocating pump plunger has a hollow stem that forms a valve-controlled discharge passage from the chamber to the discharge tube on the outer end of the stem, and a pump piston mounted on the inner end of the stem for relative sliding motion, The body has a plunger return spring which biases the plunger in the raised position.

Although most conventional distributors, on the one hand, are often expensive to manufacture and assemble to provide a high level of technical improvement, on the other hand, there are certain problems in that the technical advantages are significantly reduced in the economic case. In general, fluid pump distributors of the type described above are known.

U.S. Patent 5,615,806 discloses a plunger lift lock which is operated by pressurizing the injected liquid inside the pump chamber formed by the pump cylinder of the distributor body by manually pressing the plunger / drainpipe to lower the hollow plunger with the pump piston attached thereto. -up) for a dispenser. The piston return spring placed inside the pump chamber extends between the piston and the neck of the pump body to form a ball cage or inlet ball check valve at the neck. The piston is mounted on the stem for limited sliding movement, so that the piston opens the outlet inside the stem during the compression stroke, allowing the pressurized fluid to be discharged through the discharge passage and the drain. A certain amount of product is dispensed during the entire stroke of the piston, which is proportional to the length of the piston stroke. During the upstroke, the piston returns to the raised position under the influence of the spring, thereby expanding the chamber and reducing the chamber pressure, allowing the product to be sucked into the chamber through an inlet valve open from the fluid container in which the pump dispenser is mounted.

As with all manually operated dispensers, the chamber must be injected into the product to evacuate the air inside the chamber. First, the plunger is reciprocated to exhaust the air. However, in this prior art configuration, the compressible air inside the chamber often causes the stem and piston to move integrally without opening the outlet, such that the stem moves slightly downward at the bottom end of the piston to open the outlet. The chamber air is exhausted until the end of the lowering stroke. On the return stroke, the outlet is closed and the product is introduced into the expanded chamber through the unseated inlet ball check valve.

Although, due to the fact that the properties of the seals in the enclosed area are relatively insufficient, attempts to allocate low viscosity fluids in the proper proportions in many cases fail, such dispensers usually have an average viscosity of liquid soap or the like. It is designed to dispense the fluid having. Moreover, given the fact that the widespread use of high viscosity fluids or fluids of variable (gel form) viscosity has been relatively recent and the internal passages of the pump bonsai machine have not been modified accordingly, they are satisfactory for dispensing such fluids. Hard to get results.

After all, the object of the present invention is to overcome this problem.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a fluid pump bonsai machine according to the present invention shown in fully raised and plunger raised lock position,

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with the plunger in the fully lowered and plunger lower locking position,

3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a slightly enlarged hollow pump piston,

4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the plug member fixedly attached to the lower end of the hollow piston stem,

5 is a view along line 5-5 of FIG. 4,

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5,

7 is a partial cutaway side view of the plunger,

8 is an enlarged side view of the inner liner fixed inside the pump body and shown in the longitudinal cross-sectional views of FIGS. 1 and 2,

9 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the liner shown in FIG. 8,

10 is a side view of a liner according to another embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the liner shown in FIG. 10;

12 is a perspective view of the liner shown in FIG. 10,

FIG. 13 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the liner taken along line 13-13 of FIG. 11.

The dispenser according to the invention provides a plug member fixedly mounted at the inner end of the piston stem, the piston being mounted on the inner end of the stem for relative sliding motion, the piston being inside the opposite annular groove on the plug member. It has an annular suspension protrusion that forms a seated discharge valve. The relative sliding between the stem and the piston during the compression stroke opens the outlet, exposing an annular gap downstream of the plug member to communicate with the interior of the hollow stem forming the outlet passage. Thus, the need for outlets of different sizes is eliminated, which has excellent results and promotes the distribution of high viscosity fluids.

Similarly, the pump dispenser according to the invention provides an upward lock and a lock-down of the plunger. In the latter condition, the annular seal on the plug member engages in sealing engagement with the reduced inner diameter at the bottom of the chamber to tightly seal the closed inlet passage during unloading or storage and other unused periods.

Further objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description given hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The fluid distributor of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a pump body 2 comprising a pump cylinder forming a pump chamber 4 having an inner surface 6 and a bottom wall 8. The pump body described above is attached to a conventional closure cover 10 for mounting in a container (not shown) of the product to be dispensed. The inner diameter of the chamber is reduced at position 9, and an annular tapered portion 11 is formed around the bottom wall 8, which functions in the same manner as described below.

The distributor has a manually reciprocating pump plunger 12 with a hollow stem 22, with a conventional drain 19 mounted on top of the stem. The return spring 13 of the plunger surrounds the stem outside the pump chamber and the plunger skirt when the flange 14 'of the inner liner (Figs. 8 and 9) rests on the upper outer flange 2' of the pump body. It extends between an appropriate rib 17 on the inner surface of the skirt and the inner flange 7 of the inner liner 14 fixedly mounted inside the pump body.

The plunger return spring is provided with a "dry" spring because it is outside of the pump chamber and is not wetted by the liquid to be dispensed. This configuration not only solves the compatibility problem between the return spring and the liquid product, but also eliminates obstruction of the product flow. The spring serves to return the plunger in a general manner from the fully raised position shown in FIG. 1 to the fully lowered position shown in FIG. 2 during the reciprocating motion of the plunger.

An inner liner 14 of the type shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, or an inner liner 14A of the type shown in FIGS. 10 to 13 is fixedly mounted inside the pump body. This liner has a pair of opposed axial grooves 15, an upper circular groove portion 16 and a lower circular groove portion 18. At this time, the upper groove portion 16 provides the stop shoulder 16 ', and the lower groove portion 18 provides the stop shoulder 18'.

The plunger 12 can rotate about its central axis with respect to the pump body 2, and the plunger skirt 12 ′ is separated by a distance to form a notch or space 50 therebetween. It has a pair of opposed protrusions 20 (FIG. 7) extending radially outwardly. 7 shows only one of these pairs of protrusions 20, it should be noted that the opposite pair lies on the opposite side of the plunger skirt.

When the plunger is in its fully raised position, manually rotate the plunger so that the protrusion 20 moves along the upper circular groove portion 16 until the opposite protrusion is aligned with the axial groove 15. You can. Thus, the plunger can be pressurized to perform a dispensing operation in a conventional manner, with the projections sliding and guiding along opposite pairs of axial grooves 15. The plunger can be locked in its raised position by rotating the plunger until the protrusion of the plunger engages the stop shoulder 16 ', which stops any attempt to pressurize the plunger accordingly. Alternatively, the plunger is rotated until the protrusion of the plunger is aligned with the groove 15 in the axial direction and the plunger is pressed while being aligned in this way, and then the protrusion is out of alignment with the groove 15 and stops 18 '. By rotating the plunger until it lies below, the plunger can be locked in its lowered position. The engagement between the projection and the stop shoulder 18 'secures the plunger to the lowered position shown in FIG.

The hollow stem 22 of the plunger has an inner edge 24 (FIG. 4) at its inner end, and the inner end of the stem is reduced to provide an inner shoulder 25 and an outer shoulder 25 ′. The hollow piston 26, shown in detail in FIG. 3, surrounds the inner end of the stem and contacts the inner shoulder 29 in contact with the outer shoulder 25 ′ on the stem as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. It is formed to have. This piston is mounted to the stem for axial sliding movement with respect to the stem between the outlet opening position shown in FIG. 2 and the outlet closing position shown in FIG. 1, the upper limit of the piston being adjacent shoulder 25 ', 29).

The piston has an annular suspension protrusion 28 having an inner cylindrical surface 30.

A plug member 32 is fixedly attached to the inner end of the stem, the plug having a side face 36 opposite the flat outer face 34 facing the bottom end 8 of the chamber. An annular sealing skirt 37 is formed on the surface 34, extending radially and downwardly as shown. When the plunger is in the fully lowered downlock position shown in FIG. 2, the seal 37 engages the tapered portion 11 of the inner surface 6 of the chamber. Thus, leakage through the inlet valve check valve 39 that is not seated from the pump during unloading, storage or other unused periods is almost prevented.

The plug member 36 is in place by installing a pair of opposed spring legs 38 having snap beads 40 engaged therein with the inner shoulder 25 at its inner end. It is fixedly attached.

As shown in Figs. 9 and 11 to 13, each of the opposing axial grooves 15 has an axial elongated bead 56 located almost centrally therein. Thus, when the plunger is rotated until the opposed protrusion of the plunger is axially aligned with the groove 15 to unlock the plunger to perform dispensing, one of the plurality of pairs of protrusions of each opposed pair In contact with the bead 56, it signals to the user that the plunger is in an operable state. As the user of the plunger moves further in the same direction of rotation, the first projection of each pair overlaps the opposing beads 56, with the beads extending into the notch 50 to secure the plunger to the unlocked dispensing position. Keep it. Thus, during the process of overlapping on the bead, accommodated inside the notch 50, the user may feel this movement and hear a weak click, which informs the user that the plunger is in the unlocked position. .

In a similar manner, a bead portion 60 (FIG. 9) is formed inside the liner 14 adjacent to the stop shoulder 16 ′. Thus, when the plunger is rotated to the raised position to position the protrusion out of alignment with the axial groove 15 and over the stop shoulder 16 ', the front protrusion of each pair of protrusions is beaded. In engagement with the portion 60, if the user makes a slightly more rotational movement, the projections are superimposed over the bead portion and seated as the bead portion extends into the notch 50. Likewise, the user can feel the engagement of these protrusions / beads and at the same time hear a click, both of which confirm that the plunger is locked in the raised position.

As expected, in order to inform the user that the plunger is locked in the lowered position, a through hole is installed in the thick opposing wall portion of the liner (actually forming the opposing stop shoulders 16 ', 18'), The bottom groove portion 18 is formed. In addition, an elastic arm 52 is formed to form a bead 54 that engages each opposing stop shoulder 18 '. The beads 54 function in the same way as the bead portion 60 when the plunger rotates, such that the protrusions inflate the beads 50 and the beads extend into the notches 50, thereby allowing the user to Tactilely and acoustically confirm that the plunger is in the lower locking position.

Alternatively, on the same liner 14A as the liner 14 described above in the face of the elongate beads 56, there is a pair of pairs located substantially centered with respect to the upper stop shoulder 16 'and the lower stop shoulder 18'. Opposing elongated beads 60 are installed. The bead 60 extends over the cutout that forms the bottom groove 18, and the cutout 58 is provided during the molding process.

In operation, with the plunger in the unlocked position in the fully raised position, the protrusions 20 of the plunger are rotated to be aligned with the opposing axial grooves 50, and the plunger head is conventional. Manually pressed in a manner to pressurize the product placed inside the pump chamber during the reciprocating motion of the plunger. During each downward compression stroke of the plunger, the piston moves upward relative to the plunger stem from the position of FIG. 1 to the position of FIG. 2, which is limited by adjacent stops 25 ′, 29. The frictional engagement between the piston and the inner surface 6 of the pump cylinder promotes the lowering of the plunger stem slightly prior to the lowering of the piston, thereby generating an idle-motion effect.

The annular projection 28 of the piston forms a discharge valve seated inside an opposite annular groove 44 lying on the plug member. The side face 36 of the plug member forms an annular gap 42 which communicates with the interior of the hollow stem forming the discharge passage through the space between the spring legs 38 (see FIG. 6). Thus, during the idle between the piston and the stem during each return suction stroke of the piston, the discharge valve is closed because the projection 28 is firmly seated inside its groove 44, thereby allowing the product to be deposited in a conventional manner. 35) and into the pump chamber through an unseated inlet ball check valve. By slight frictional drag between the piston and the inner surface 6 of the pump body, the axial movement in the return direction of the piston stem slightly ahead of the piston is promoted.

The plunger is placed in an elevated position by placing the protrusions 20 out of alignment with the grooves 15 by manual rotation and lying on the top stop shoulder 16 ', causing the protrusions to "click" in place. Is fixed. Alternatively, the plunger is shown in FIG. 2 by first turning the projections with the grooves 15 and then misaligning and placing them under the lower shoulder 18 'until the projections make a "click" in place. Can be locked in the full lowered position.

The dispenser of the present invention may be devoid of vents, in order to more effectively prevent leakage, i.e., without the vented container vents as in the dispenser of patent 5,615,806. To this end, the container contained in a collapsible bag or the like, which is placed inside the exterior material, or provided for a dispenser, as is known, is used during the dispensing of the product from the container to continuously reduce the product volume of the container. It may have a follower piston moving to.

Dispensers according to the present invention can dispense products with various viscosities such as cosmetic creams, makeup, liposomes, special soaps for machines, high viscosity gels, liquid spinning materials, medical gels and the like. In addition, the distributors, using the effect of a "ventless" configuration, are currently supplied by drip-feeds due to the lack of hydrogen peroxide, mecromina, iodine, fluidity. It is also suitable for dispensing products containing products and proteins that are distributed in products and tubes.

In the fluid pump dispenser according to the invention, the relative sliding motion between the stem and the piston during the compression stroke is such that the opening of the outlet, the interior of the hollow stem, forms an outlet passage in an annular gap downstream of the plug member. Expose to communicate with. Thus, the need for outlets of different sizes is eliminated, which has excellent results and promotes the distribution of high viscosity fluids.

Likewise, the pump dispenser according to the present invention provides an ascending and descending lock of the plunger such that the annular seal on the plug member is sealed to a reduced internal diameter at the bottom of the chamber, thereby closing during unloading or storage and other unused periods. Sealed entrance passages tightly sealed.

Apparently, various modifications and variations of the present invention can be made from the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as described.

Claims (9)

A pump body having means for mounting the pump body on a container of the product to be dispensed, the pump body comprising a pump cylinder forming a pump chamber, a valve-controlled product inlet passage leading to the chamber, and A manually reciprocating pump plunger having a hollow stem defining an outgoing discharge passage, the plunger having a discharge tube on the outer end of the stem and a pump mounted on the inner end of the stem for relative sliding motion Having a piston, the body having a plunger return spring for biasing the plunger to an elevated position, and means for operating between the stem and the piston to limit relative sliding motion between the outlet open and closed positions, the piston Is an annular protrusion extending toward the lower end of the chamber; And a plug member fixedly mounted to the stem at the inner end position, the plug member having an outer surface facing the lower end of the chamber, wherein the protrusion is in the outlet closed position upon relative sliding movement of the piston. And the outer surface of the plug member is configured to seal the inlet passage closed at the lowered position of the member, the seal member engaged with the plug member and spaced apart from the plug member in an outlet opening position. The method of claim 1, And the piston return spring is mounted inside the pump body and outside of the pump chamber. The method of claim 1, And the plug member has an annular seal that can engage a reduced inner diameter of the cylinder at the lower end of the chamber in the lowered position. The method of claim 1, And the plug member has a fastening member extending into the piston stem at the inner end position to securely mount the member to the stem. The method of claim 4, wherein Means for actuating between said fastening member and said stem permits snap-fastening therebetween. The method of claim 1, The plunger is freely rotatable about its central axis, and includes radially extending protrusions and an inner liner fixedly mounted inside the pump body, the inner wall of the liner having a transverse shoulder to provide a stop shoulder, respectively. Direction upper and lower grooves, the liner having at least one axial groove extending between the upper and lower grooves for receiving the projection means during the reciprocating motion of the plunger, the projection means And the protruding means is engaged with the shoulder portion of the lower groove in the lower locking position of the plunger in the up lock position of the plunger. The method of claim 6, The projection means has a notch open radially outwardly, the liner having a first axial bead coupled with the axial groove and a second axial coupled with the shoulder portion of the upper groove. A bead, wherein the notch engages the first bead during reciprocating movement of the plunger to firmly support the protrusion to the notch, and the notch raises and locks the plunger to firmly support the protrusion to the notch. A pump dispenser, configured to engage the second bead in position. The method of claim 6, And the shoulder portion of the lower groove includes a protrusion having elasticity that engages the notch at the lower locking position of the plunger to firmly support the protrusion to the notch. The method of claim 7, wherein The second bead adjacent the shoulder of the lower groove, the notch being configured to engage the second bead in the lower locking position of the plunger to securely support the projection means to the notch. Divider.