US2132657A

US2132657A - Liquid dispensing device

Info

Publication number: US2132657A
Application number: US79834A
Authority: US
Inventors: Cecil W Smith
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1936-05-15
Filing date: 1936-05-15
Publication date: 1938-10-11
Anticipated expiration: 1955-10-11

Description

Oct 11", 1938. c w, sM 2,132,657

LIQUID DISPENSING DEVICE Filed May 15, 1936 Patented Oct. 11, 1938 UNITE TAT PATENT OFFICE -7 Claims.

This invention relates to ink containers, and in its illustrated form includes a main container,

with a removable top having a recess therein and an inner container or well supported within the neck of the main container in such manner. that it maybe filled from the main container by tipping the main container upside down to let the ink run into the top, and then uprighting it to let the ink run from the top into the inner well.

Ink containers of this general type have been known heretofore, and in fact this invention may be considered an improvement on that disclosed in my Patent No. 2,055,509, issued September 29,

1936, on an application filed October 22, 1934, and copending with this application. However, it also covers certain features disclosed but not claimed in said patent, and to that extent it is a continuation in part of said application.

One of the features of this invention consists in shaping the inner well in such manner as to support a wide variety of fountain pens inthe proper position for filling without letting the point of the pen touch the bottomof the .well,,or without interfering withthe filling operation, thus avoiding the possibility of injury to the point. vIt

should be noted that this feature can be incorporated in almost anytype of ,inkwell.

Another feature of the present inventionis the provisionof a bottle neck and removable top construction in which leaking and dribbling are effectively prevented, and in which certain other unsatisfactory conditions of prior ink containers have beeneliminated For example, thewasher which prevents leaking is now secured in the 33' container in such a way that itis practically impossible for it to come loose any time duringthe life of the container. This is accomplished by the aid of fine grooves and anchoring projections on the inside of the top into which the washer is pressed. These grooves and fins have been so shaped that they'do not add to the manufacturing difficulties. u

The combination of a bottle neck, the top of which is substantially fiat except for a slight inward slant together with; a fairly thick and somewhat plastic washer, has substantially eliminated the danger of small amounts of ink running onto the outside of. the bottle as the top is removed. As a matter of fact, theflat top of the neck will usually be left completely clean, but even if, with frequently repeated use, the ink gradually works onto this top surface, it will tend 'to flow from this surface back into the bottleinstead of drib-.

bling over to the outsideof the bottle. e

It is therefore an object of the present inven' tion to provide an ink well of the type described which properly supports all or nearly all types of pens for filling without injuring its point, and which provides an adequate supply of ink within the auxiliary well for filling the pen. 5

A further object of the invention is to provide an ink container having an inner well therein and having a closure construction of such nature that the container is dependably sealed against leakage, and the presence of small amounts of ink on the outside of the bottle is prevented.

Another object is to provide a cap having its threads so formed that the cap will fit bottles which are imperfectly formed. This is accomplished by making the cap threads thinner and shaped with substantiallyihorizontal upper faces.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following description, taken with the drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a vertical sectional view through the 20 preferredform of this invention, showing the bottlecap removed .and apen in place for filling.

' Fig. 2v isfla view somewhat similar to Fig. 1 but on a larger scale and showing the outside of the inner well and showing the cap in place.

.Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the cap on a still larger scale, in fact, approximately four times actual size, with the washer removed.

Fig. 4 is a developed view of the threaded portion of the bottle cap; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view through the cap substantially along the line 55 of Fig. 3, with the washer removed.

Although this invention may take various forms, only one has beenchosen for illustration. In this form the invention includes a bottle ll, normally sealed by a cap I2 and having an inner well l3 supported in its neck by ribs I4, the construction being such that the inner well l3 may be filled by tipping. the bottle upside down and then quickly uprighting it.

The outside of the inner well [3 is preferably substantially the same as that, shown in applicants oopending application Serial No. 749,423, except for slightchanges. resulting from internal 4s improvements, and therefore may be discussed quite briefly. The inner well is approximately of cone shape, and at its upper or larger end is provided with a plurality of ribs I4, preferably an odd number thereof, to providethe greatest 50 degree of resilienceand to avoid the rocking effect I that might be obtained with diametrically opposed ribs. Each of the ribs I4 is provided with a longitudinally extending V-shaped groove 6 to" provide two longitudinally extending thin edges 3 H as seen best in Fig. 2. These thin edges may be called feather edges since they will yield to the extent necessary to fit into the neck of the bottle while at the same time clinging tightly to the neck so as to retain the proper position once it has been inserted.

It is desirable that that part of the outer wall of the inner well between the ribs M be so shaped as to facilitate the flow of ink from the bottle into the cap without enabling it to flow too easily in the reverse direction. To this end the top of the well extends quite close to the neck of the bottle, but recedes therefrom downwardly. Since considerable radial pressure may be exerted on the inner well by the bottle neck, it is desirable to have a strong annular thickened portion 2| as seen in both Figs. 1 and 2, adjacent to the ribs.

The preferred form of the inside of the well is that shown in Fig. 1, in which near the bottom there is an annular shoulder 23 so positioned and of such diameter that the sides of the pen will rest thereon as seen in Fig. 1, without permitting the pen point to touch the bottom of the well.

With the prevalence of the plunger type of pens, protection of the pen point has become more necessary than heretofore because of the downward pressure exerted on the pen in operating the plunger. The shoulders 23 protect the pen point adequately While at the same time having no adverse effect on the filling of the pen. Because the shoulder 23 provides a circular opening and because the corresponding portion of the pen is not circular. there is sure to be a passage for fiow of the ink between the upper end of the well and the lower end of the well. The level'of the ink is sufficiently high to provide an adequate supply of ink for one filling before the ink drops too low to be drawn in. Of course the inner well may also be made of a larger diameter if the bottle neck is larger in diameter.

The form shown in Fig. 1 is especially satisfactory for the reason that it will properly support all or nearly all pens, for although the pens vary considerably in the diameter of the barrels, there is relatively little variation in the tapers of the lower portions of the pen points, and with the illustrated structure, the position of the pen is determined entirely by the taper of the point.

In an ink container or bottle including an inner well such as the well l3, it is extremely important to have a good seal for the bottle, because of the necessity of turning the bottle upside down to fill the inner well. As a matter of fact, in some proposed bottles having an inner well, in the past, the worst feature has been the unsatisfactory sealing of the cap. The difficulty lies not only in providing a cap which will be leakproof, while firmly screwed down, but in providing a cap which may in fact be screwed down firmly irrespective of irregularities in the thread portion of the liquid container which often causes binding of the cap on the bottle, so as to make screwing of the cap diflicult, or binding so great as to make removal of the cap substantially im possible. There is a difiiculty in providing a cap which will not permit small amounts of the ink to dribble down on the outside of the bottle as the cap is removed, and furthermore, providing a cap in which the sealing means such as the washer will stay in place permanently. The present invention presents a very satisfactory solution of all these difficulties.

It will be noted that the top of the bottle neck is provided with a nearly fiat annular surface 3| which has a very slight inward slope. The very tip 32 of the bottle is approximately at the outside edge of the neck. This bottle construction may not be new in itself, but in combination with applicants sealing means the result is very much better than has been attained heretofore.

The sealing means includes a washer 33 which may desirably be any paper product such as chip board treated with a plastic waterproof ma terial such as parafiin. A mixture of 75% paraffin and 25% beeswax is preferred and has the advantage of greater adhesive qualities than paraffin alone. The adhesiveness helps to hold the washer in place. The washer is preferably fairly thick 50' that it will yield enough to seal against the entire top surface 3|. The result is that ink will not ordinarily get onto said surface at all, since when the bottle is upside down, the cap I2 is screwed tightly onto the bottle, and the washer 33 is therefore in firm contact with the entire surface 3|. When the bottle is uprighted, substantially all of the ink flows off of the cap. In this connection it should be noted that there is no downwardly projecting part on the inside of the cap on which small amounts of ink would be particularly likely to hang. Of course it is inevitable that very tiny amounts of ink may occasionally remain on the cap. In the course of many uses this ink may gradually spread onto the washer 33 and be transferred by it to the surface 3|, but since this surface slants inwardly, it is virtually inconceivable with normal use that ink will ever get beyond the tip 32 and dribble onto the outside of the bottle.

One of the major difficulties with a cap of this type is the retention of the washer 33 in the cap. Of course when it is not retained, a leaky cap is likely to result, and even at best the user is likely to get his fingers dirty in putting the washer in place.

According to the present invention, the washer 33 is retained in place by three expedients. First, an annular depending flange 36 is provided. This not only provides another surface for increasing the friction by which the Washer 33 is held in place, but also positively prevents spreading of the washer, and thereby insures its effectiveness and prevents it from catching ink as the bottle is uprighted. In addition to this, the seat for the washer is provided with a plurality of fine annular grooves 38. Even the combination of the flange 36 and the grooves 38 would not be dependably effective alone and therefore projections 39 have been provided. The provision of such projections presented a difficulty because of the necessity of unscrewing the cap from the die after the molding. This difficulty has been solved, however, partly by making the projections. 39 in the form of threads having the same pitch as the main thread M, by which the cap is secured to the bottle. This is best seen in Fig. 4, in which'this portion of the cap has been developed and the anchor threads 39 are seen as being parallel to the main thread 4|. Also, the anchor threads 39 must be so positioned that the die forming them will pass out between the threads 4|. To'this end the anchor threads 39 are formed as projections on an annular shoulder 43 which has a radius no greater than the smallest radius of the thread 4|, and preferably slightly less than the radius of thread 4| to permit easy insertion of the washer 33 past the screw threads to be pressed into place at the anchor threads '39 as-will be hereinafter-explained.-

In assembling the wax treated washer 33 in the cap l2, it is dropped into the open-end to preferably fall down'as far as the threads 39 where it is pressed in with enough pressure to cause the wax and the fibers of the paper itself to expand into the grooves 38 and in between the threads 39,"thus securing the washer 33 in place so permanently that 'itcannot evenbe picked out with a knife except in small bits. The Washer may be slightly oversize with respect to the thread portion 39 so that it'will-snap into place, and the pressure'may be such as to c'ause the wax to melt and flow. To increasethis latter effect the washer may be heated if desired.

In order that theanchor threads 39 may have the greatest possib-le'retaining effect on the washer, they are preferably shaped in cross section as shown best in Fig. 3 with their upper sides approximately horizontal. The portion of the thread below the horizontal face, as viewed in Fig. 3, is inclined to facilitate the sliding of the washer. into place to be retained by the cooperation of the thread construction as discussed.

One very difficult problem in connection with ink containers Of'thiS general type was to find a material suitable for the caps and inner wells which could be molded quite accurately to the required shapes, and which would withstand long contact with the ink without discoloringthe ink, and without being corroded by the ink. After extensive search it was found that the molded phenolic resin known and available commercially as Durezi was. ideal for this purpose, being so inert that all of the ordinary inks can stand in the well for months or even years without any noticeable deleterious effect.

In the past many bottles have had to be discarded because of imperfections in the bottle threads and neck causing'binding or stickingof the caps on the bottle, which either prevented proper screwing of the caps, or caused breakage of the caps. According to the present invention this difiiculty has been largely overcome by changing the main thread formation of the cap to that shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The thread 4| is smaller in a vertical direction than the intended size of the groove 48 between threads 46 on the bottle, and the space 41 between convolutions of thread 4| is larger than the intended size of thread 46 both in radius and in the vertical direction. This is largely accomplished by forming the threads 4! approximately horizontal on their top surface.

The bottle thread is normally rounded, with the portion immediately adjacent the neck of the bottle substantially horizontal. This portion may be extremely small, and it is simply the standard construction for glass bottle threads. With a corresponding rounded surface on the cap thread, as has been used in the prior art'caps, there has been a wedging force developed between the cap and bottle due to manufacturing irregularities in the threads of an inexpensive glass bottle, causing the difficulty mentioned above. With the upper horizontal surface construction for thread 4| as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, there is a straight surface on the cap thread in engagement with the surface of the bottle thread, and the lip 42 will ordinarily bear against the inside substantially horizontal portion of the bottle thread to provide a horizontal surface engagement between the two.

Of course the cap securing force is still exerted on the threads 41 in a downward direction, but the wedging force due to a rounded cap thread surface onradiallyoversize bottle threads or on vertically oversize bottle threads, iseliminated unless the imperfections of the bottle are entirely out of reason. Furthermore, should there be any tainer is provided which not only furnishes a convenient means for filling fountain pens or dipping ordinary pens without injury to the points, but also can be used for months or years with complete satisfaction both inpreventing evapo ration to maintain thequality of the ink, and in avoiding dribbling of the ink to the outside container or dropping of the washer fromthe C011".

tainer cap. It is understood of course that the well and cap may be used with a container for any liquid. Although only'afew embodiments of my invention have been herein shown and described, it will'be understood that I am not limited thereby, but limit my invention only by the scope of the appended claims. I claim: a V 1. An ink well including a body member having a cavity therein closed at the bottom thereof and having imperforate side walls, a lower portion of which cavity is of reduced cross section to form an annular shoulderfor engaging the pen point nibs of a pen inserted into said well and holding said pen with its point out of contact with said well but close to thebottom thereof, and with the holder below the normal level of ink in the well; the cross sectional shape of said shoulder formed by the reduced portion being different from that of the nib portion of a pen which it is designed to engage, to prevent sealing of the lower part of said well; the interior of said well.

being free from horizontal surfaces and from upstanding members above the closed bottom of the cavity, whereby possibility of the pen point beingcaught as it is inserted vertically into said well is eliminated.

2. The combination of an ink container having a neck opening, a one-piece cap closing said opening and having a cavity in the roof thereof, a well in said neck adapted to be filled by inverting said closed container and uprighting it, a washer secured in said cap, and sealed against the top of said neck opening; said cap having a downwardly extending annular flange, having main threads thereon for securing the cap to said container, an annular vertical wall extending above said flange and having fine anchor threads thereon above said main threads for securing said washer in place, said anchor threads being of the same pitch as said main threads, and being so positioned that the die member forming them and the main threads may be unscrewed from the cap.

3. The combination of an ink container having a neck opening, a one-piece cap closing said opening and having a cavity in the roof thereof, a well in said neck adapted to be filled by inverting said closed container and uprighting it, a washer secured in said cap, and sealed against the top of said neck opening; said cap having a downcap for securing said washer in place, a seat above wardly extending annular flange, having main threads thereon for securing the cap to said container, and having fine anchor threads in an annular, vertical wall above said main threads for securing said washer in place, said anchor threads being of the same pitch as said main threads, and being so positioned that the die member forming them and themain threads may be unscrewed from the cap, and the upper sides of saidmain threads being approximately horizontal to form a relatively sharp edge for cutting through any foreign substances on the container neck for easy removability of said cap from said container.

4. The combination of an ink container having a neck opening, a one-piece cap closing said opening'and having a cavity in the roof thereof, a well in said neck adapted to be filled by inverting said closed container and uprighting it, and a washer secured to said cap and sealed against the top of said neck opening; said cap having a downwardly extending annular flange having main screw threads thereon for engaging threads on said container, and having similarly disposed fine anchor threads above said main threads in said and adjacent said anchor threads, and a depending flange on the opposite side of said seat from said threads to form a cavityrfor the washer, and a washer pressed into said cavity and intimately engaging said anchor threads.

5. The combination of an ink container having a neck, an inner-well therefor for filling a fountainpen therein, said inner-well being open at the top and closed at the bottom, means for supporting said well in said neck and spacing said well from said neck at intervals around the same to provide openings from the container extending past said well for the flow of ink therethrough, a removable cap for closing said neck and having a cavity therein for receiving ink when the bottle is inverted and pouring said ink into said well when said container is uprighted, said well having imperforate side walls with a continuouus annular shoulder therewithin intermediate the top and bottom thereof positioned to engage a pen point of a fountain pen at the nibs portion thereof andsupportsaid pen out of contact with the bottom of the well for filling said pen with ink poured into said well from said cap.

6. The combination of a liquid container hav ing a neck opening, a one-piece cap closing said opening having a cavity in the roof thereof, securing threads on the inner wall of said cap at the lower portion thereof, a washer in said cap and sealed against the top of said neck opening, and means for retaining said Washer on said cap and preventing the spreading of said washer, said means comprising an annular seat in said cap cavity, a plurality of annular concentric grooves in said washer seat having the washer material therein, an annular flange on one side of said seat and the inner wall of the cap on the other side thereof, a plurality of fine anchor threads on said inner wall adjacent said seat above said securing threads having the Washer material pressed therein, with said securing threads and said anchor threads of said cap being of the same pitch for easy removal of the cap from the apparatus for making said cap in an unscrewing movement.

'7. An ink container having an open neck with the usual rounded cap securing threads on the outside of said neck, a cap for said container having a cavity therein, an inner well closed at the bottom and open at the top supported in said neck in a manner to provide an ink passageway from the bottom of said container past said inner Well to said cavity for the flow of ink thereto when said container is inverted, said cap acting to pour said ink into said well when the container is uprighted, a Washer secured in said cap for en-