MXPA98003201A - Improved apparatus and method for assuring a liquid treatment for ma - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for distributing a liquid hand treatment such as a soap to the hand of a consumer in a public restroom including the first and second containers for storing a liquid hand treatment, the first and second nozzles and a pumping mechanism to extract the liquid treatment for the hands of the first and second containers and to eject such liquid treatment for the hands respectively, through the first and second nozzle. The pumping mechanism preferably includes a first actuating lever for causing the pumping mechanism to pump the liquid hand treatment through said first nozzle and a second actuating lever to cause said pump mechanism to pump the liquid treatment for the hands to through said second nozzle, said first and second levers being operable independently, whereby the liquid treatment for the hands can be effectively distributed through any container. In addition, each actuator lever preferably includes indicia to instruct a consumer of how to orient his hand when the lever is actuated, and the nozzle is oriented to deliver the hand treatment to the consumer's palm when the lever is actuated and the user's hand You are guided. Therefore, the liquid treatment for the hands will be deposited in the most useful place with a minimum of waste.

Description

IMPROVED APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ASSURING A LIQUID TREATMENT FOR HANDS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to public health and sanitation, and more particularly to distributors for liquid soap or other liquid hand treatments.

Description of Previous Art Liquid soap dispensers are among the most common accessories in public bathrooms and laundry rooms, both in the United States of America and throughout the World. Other liquid treatments, such as skin conditioners, different kinds of soap or the like are also distributable by means of such accessories.

One type of dispenser that is currently being marketed by the owner of this invention, Scott Paper Company, is mounted on the wall and is adapted to receive two containers of liquid hand soap.

Each container is connected to a flexible hose that is mounted to be in contact with a pumping mechanism. The pumping mechanism includes an actuating lever, and is manually moved by the consumer or maintenance person between a first position for distribution from the first container, and a second position for distribution from the second container.

A problem with this type of distributor is that changing the pump mechanism back and forth between the two supply fronts can be annoying. Another problem which is almost endemic among liquid soap dispensers as a class, is that the lack of coincidence between the hands of the user and the position of the dispensing nozzle can result in a less optimal deposit of the soap in the hands of the user. user. Ideally, the soap should be deposited on the palm of the user's hand but very often this does not happen, meaning that the soap is wasted and that the washing of the hands is carried out inefficiently.

It is clear that there is a need for an improved distributor for liquid hand treatment which avoids the need for manual switching between the supply sources, and which ensures an effective deposit of hand treatment in the palm of the user.

SYNTHESIS OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved dispenser for a liquid hand treatment which avoids the need for a manual change between the sources of supply, and which ensures an effective deposit of the hand treatment in the palm of the hand. an user.

In order to achieve these and other aspects of the invention, an apparatus for distributing a liquid hand treatment, such as a soap, in the hands of the consumer in a public restroom includes a container for storing liquid hand treatment; a mouthpiece; a pumping mechanism for extracting liquid hand treatment from the container and expelling it through the nozzle, the pumping mechanism includes a driving lever; wherein said actuating lever includes instructions for instructing a consumer how to orient his hand when actuating the lever, and the nozzle is oriented to deliver liquid treatment for the hands in the palm of the consumer when the lever is actuated and the user's hand is thus oriented, so the liquid treatment for the hands will be deposited on the most useful place with a minimum of waste.

According to a second aspect of the invention, an apparatus for distributing a liquid hand treatment such as a soap in the hands of the consumer in a public restroom includes the first and second containers for storing liquid hand treatment; the first and second nozzles; a pumping mechanism for extracting the liquid treatment for the hands of the first and second containers and expelling such liquid treatment for the hands, respectively, through the first and second nozzles, the pump mechanism includes a first actuating lever for causing the pump mechanism to pump the liquid hand treatment through the first nozzle, and a second actuating lever for causing the pump mechanism to pump the liquid treatment for the hands through the second nozzle, the first and second levers are operable independently, so that the liquid hand treatment can be effectively dispensed through any container.

According to a third aspect of the invention, a method for distributing a liquid hand treatment such as a liquid soap includes the steps of (a) inserting two liquid hand treatment containers into a dispenser comprising the nozzles first and second; a pumping mechanism for extracting the liquid treatment for the hands of the first and second containers and expelling such liquid treatment for the hands, respectively, through the first and second nozzles, the pumping mechanism includes a first actuating lever to make the pumping mechanism pumps the liquid treatment for the hands through the first nozzle, and a second actuating lever for causing the pump mechanism to pump the liquid treatment for the hands through the second nozzle, the first and second levers being independently operable; (b) close the distributor; and (c) operating one of the levers, independently of the other lever, to distribute the liquid treatment for the hands through the respective nozzle.

These and several other advantages and characteristics of the novelty characterizing the invention are pointed out with particularity in the appended claims herein and forming a part thereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and the objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a part thereof, and to the accompanying descriptive matter in which it is illustrated and describes a preferred embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a perspective view of an improved apparatus for distributing a liquid hand treatment that is constructed according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus shown in Figure 1 in an open position.

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the apparatus shown in Figures 1 and 2; Y Figure 4 is a cross-sectional side view of the distributors shown in Figures 1 and 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED INCORPORATIONS Referring now to the drawings, wherein the like reference numbers designate the corresponding structure through the views, and referring in particular to Figure 1, an apparatus 10 for distributing a liquid hand treatment such as a liquid soap in the hands of the consumer in a public restroom or in a similar place includes a box 12 having an interior part 14 which is secured to the wall of a bathroom or a similar surface and an outer protection part 16, as seen in FIG.

Figure 2. A fixing mechanism 18 is provided to secure the inner and outer parts 14 and 16 together in the operative position shown in Figure 1.

Now seeing Figure 2, when operative the apparatus 10 will have the first and second containers 20 and 22 of the liquid hand treatment, such as soap, mounted securely inside the interior part 14 of the box 12. A display window 34 is provided on the unit, as is typical of previous Scott Paper Company distributors. The containers 20 and 22 have the first and second nozzles 24 and 26 included to direct the liquid treatment for the hands from the first container 20 and from the second container 22, respectively, to the palms of a user. The conduits, which in the preferred embodiment comprise a first rubber hose 28 and a second rubber hose 30, connect the bodies of the first and second main containers 20 and 22 with the distributing nozzles 24 and 26, respectively, as shown. clearly in Figure 2. The apparatus 10 further includes a pumping mechanism 32 for extracting a liquid treatment for the hands of the containers 20 and 22 and expelling it through the nozzle 24 and 26. In a preferred embodiment, the pumping mechanism 32 is a peristaltic type pump which operates by passing the liquid hand treatment through the respective rubber hoses 28 and 30. According to one aspect of the invention, the pump mechanism 32 includes the first and second separately operable levers 36 and 38 which are constructed and arranged to cause the pump mechanism 32 to pump liquid treatment for the hands from the first container 20 or from the second container 22 respectively. In other words, when a user operates the first actuator lever 36, liquid hand treatment is made to flow from the first container 20 through the first rubber hose 28 and out from the first nozzle 22 to the palm a user, which is usually the palm of the left hand, as can easily be seen in Figure 1. When the second actuator lever 32 is actuated, typically by the right hand of a user, liquid treatment for the user is made. hands flow from the second container 22 through the second rubber hose 30 out of the second nozzle 26 to the palm of the user which, again, is typically the palm of the right hand. Therefore, the pumping mechanism 32 allows a user to selectively pump either from the first container 20 or from the second container 22, without the need to manually switch between the two sources, as was necessary in previous generations of dispensers.

According to another important aspect of the invention, each of the first and second actuation levers 36 and 38 have instructions 40 thereon to instruct a consumer how to orient his hand when it operates the respective lever 36 and 38. In the Preferred embodiment, the instructions 40 comprise a recess 42 defined in the lever 36, 38 which is sized and shaped to accommodate the thumb of a user. As seen in Figures 1 and 3, levers 36 and 38 are essentially vertical at the point where they are designed to make contact with the user's hand 44, and the nozzles 24 and 26 are also oriented essentially vertically. Indications therefore indicate to the consumer that the thumb of the consumer should be used to operate levers 36 and 38 so that the consumer will actuate the lever with his thumb 46, palm 48 up, and the liquid hand treatment will be deposited vertically down from the nozzle 36, 34 to the hand of the consumer 44, as best seen in Figure 3. To further motivate the consumer to use his thumb on the lever 36, 38, the levers 36, 38 are constructed with a width functional W which is preferably not much greater than the width of a single finger or thumb. This will discourage the user from operating the lever 36, 38 with more than one finger, encouraging the use of the thumb. Preferably, the width W is within the range of 0.5 inch to one inch, with a preferred value of about 5/8 of an inch.

Referring again to Figure 3, it will be seen that the nozzles 24 and 26 are spaced inward from the lever 36 and 38 by a distance D by the mounting structure on the unit, which largely corresponds to the distance between the thumb of a user 46 and his palm 48.

In operation, a maintenance person will load the containers 20 and 22 into the apparatus 10, as shown in Figure 2, and will contact the rubber nozzles 28 and 30 with the respective nozzles 24 and 26. The maintenance person then It will close the inner part 14 of the box 12 to the outer part 16 thereby placing the apparatus 10 in the operative position shown in Figure 1. A consumer will then approach the apparatus 10, and, if desired, a deposit of soap or other treatment for the hands inside the right hand, he or she will present the right hand to the second actuator lever 38, palm up and press the lever 38 inward with his or her thumb, causing the hand treatment to be pumped from the second nozzle 36 to its palm 48. If the treatment tank for the hands in the left hand is desired, he or she will approach the first actuating lever 36 with the left hand, by pressing the lever. at 36 with the left thumb and causing the hand treatment to be deposited from the first nozzle 24 on his left palm.

Alternatively, the apparatus 10 can be operated by placing different types of hand treatment in the first and second containers 20 and 22. For example, the first container 20 can be used to supply soap, while the second container 22 can be used to distribute a conditioner for the skin. In this case, the consumer will be alerted to choose the available products by means of the present labels 50 so that these are inserted in the respective recesses on the levers 36 and 38 as can be seen in Figure 1. The consumer will then choose the lever that corresponds to the desired hand treatment, regardless of whether it is the left monkey or the right hand in which it is desired that the deposit be carried out.

It is understood, however, that while numerous features and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description along with the details of the structure and function of the invention, that the description is illustrative only, and that they can be made changes to the details, especially in matters of form, size and arrangement of the parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the claims are expressed.

Claims (12)

R E I V I ND I C A C I O N S

1. An apparatus for distributing a liquid hand treatment such as soap to the consumer's hands in a public restroom, comprising: a container for storing a liquid treatment for the hands; a mouthpiece; a pump mechanism for extracting the liquid treatment for the hands from said container and expelling it through said nozzle, said pump mechanism includes an actuating lever; wherein said actuating lever includes indicia to instruct the consumer of how to orient his hand when said lever is actuated, and said nozzle is oriented to deliver the liquid treatment for the hands to the palm of the consumer when said lever is actuated and the user's hand is thus oriented, so the liquid treatment for the hands will be deposited in the most useful place with a minimum of waste.

2. An apparatus as claimed in clause 1 characterized in that said nozzle is oriented essentially vertically, said lever is also essentially vertical at the point where it is designed to make contact with the consumer's hand, and said indications indicate to the consumer that the consumer's thumb should be used to operate the lever, so the consumer will trigger the lever with his thumb, palm up, and the liquid treatment for hands will be deposited vertically down from the mouthpiece in the hand of the consumer. consumer.

3. An apparatus as claimed in clause 1 characterized in that such indicia comprise a thumb size recess that is defined in said actuator.

4. An apparatus as claimed in clause 2 characterized in that said indicia comprise a thumb size recess that is defined in said actuator.

5. An apparatus as claimed in clause 1 characterized in that said lever is oriented so as to be substantially vertical at the point where it is designed to make contact with the consumer's hand, and said indications indicate to the consumer that the consumer's thumb should used to operate the lever, so the consumer will operate the lever with his thumb, palm up, and liquid hand treatment will be deposited vertically down from the nozzle in the consumer's hand.

6. An apparatus as claimed in clause 5 characterized in that said lever is also limited in width to the extent that it will discourage the user from operating the lever with more than one finger, so that the user is more likely to operate the lever. lever with a thumb.

7. An apparatus for distributing a liquid hand treatment such as soap in the hands of the consumer in a public restroom, comprising: the first and second containers to store the liquid treatment for the hands; the first and second nozzles; a pump mechanism for extracting the liquid treatment for the hands of the first and second containers and ejecting said liquid hand treatment respectively through the first and second nozzles, said pump mechanism includes a first actuating lever for making said mechanism pump pumps the liquid treatment for the hands through said first nozzle, and a second actuating lever to cause said pump mechanism to pump the liquid treatment for the hands through said second nozzle, the first and second levers being independently operable, so the liquid hand treatment can be effectively delivered through any container.

8. An apparatus as claimed in clause 7 characterized in that said first and second levers are adjacent to one another and mounted to rotate about a common axis.

9. An apparatus as claimed in clause 7 characterized in that said nozzles are oriented essentially vertically, and said levers are also essentially vertical at a point that are designed to make contact with the user's hand, and said levers are provided with indications that indicate to the consumer that the thumb of the consumer must be used to operate the lever, so that the The consumer will actuate at least one of said levers with his thumb, palm up, and the liquid treatment for the hands will be deposited vertically downwards from the respective nozzle to the consumer's hand.

10. An apparatus as claimed in clause 9 characterized in that said indicia comprise a recess of the size of the thumb that is defined in said actuator,

11. An apparatus as claimed in clause 9, characterized in that said lever is also limited in width to the extent that it will discourage the user from operating the lever with more than one finger, so that the user is more likely to activate the lever with a thumb

12. A method for distributing a liquid hand treatment such as a liquid soap, comprising: (a) inserting two liquid hand treatment containers in a dispenser comprising the first and second nozzles; a pumping mechanism for extracting the liquid treatment for the hands from said first and second containers and expelling said liquid treatment for the hands respectively, through the first and second nozzles, said pumping mechanism includes a first actuating lever for making said pumping mechanism pumps the liquid treatment for the hands through said first nozzle, and said second actuating lever for causing said pump mechanism to pump the liquid hand treatment through the second nozzle, said first and second levers being operable independently; (b) close the distributor; and (c) operating one of the levers, independently of the other, to distribute the liquid treatment for the hands through the respective nozzle. SUMMARY An apparatus for distributing a liquid hand treatment such as a soap to the hand of a consumer in a public restroom including the first and second containers for storing a liquid hand treatment, the first and second nozzles and a pumping mechanism to extract the liquid treatment for the hands of the first and second containers and to eject such liquid treatment for the hands respectively, through the first and second nozzles. The pumping mechanism preferably includes a first actuating lever for causing the pumping mechanism to pump the liquid hand treatment through said first nozzle and a second actuating lever to cause said pump mechanism to pump the liquid treatment for the hands to through said second nozzle, said first and second levers being operable independently, whereby the liquid treatment for the hands can be effectively distributed through any container. In addition, each actuator lever preferably includes indicia to instruct a consumer of how to orient his hand when the lever is operated, and the nozzle is oriented to deliver liquid hand treatment to the consumer's palm when the lever is actuated and the hand of the user is thus oriented. Therefore, the liquid treatment for the hands will be deposited in the most useful place with a minimum of waste.