US2385195A - Dispensing attachment for containers - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 18, 1945.

J. B. CLOWER DISPENSING ATTACHMENT FQR CONTAINERS Filed March 19, 1943 J0sephB.CZowez- Patented Sept. 18, 1945 :ommsmm OFFICE DISPENSING ATTAOHMiiNT FOR 4 CONTAINERS...

Joseph B; Clower, Woodstock, Va. Application March 19, 1943, SeriaiNo. 479,791 j 4 Claims; (01. ZZZ-5456) The present invention relates to dispensing attachments for containers suchas bottles,jars

therefrom of an accurately measured volume of contents. The contents may be a dry solid, such as 'a' powdered'or granular material, or itmay be a fluid, such as a liquid or a viscous substance such as'a syrup. a

The device is especially useful in establishments such as pharmacies which present the problem of making rapidly the frequent dispensing of accurately measured volumes of pharmaceuticals, medicaments,-fiavoring syrups and the like. a i

Devices of the general character provided by this invention havebeen made heretofore, but all of them, so far as I am aware, have been-subject to inherent disadvantages and have not gone intowidespread use. The present invention aims to provide a dispensingattachment which will be free of the defects ofthe best prior art devices of this -kind.' r i Incidental objects are concerned with providing a dispensing attachment of the character indicated which will be simple in its construction, inexpensive to make, foolproof and leakproof in operation, and generally rigid and durable.

-A further important object is to provide a dispensing attachment which will permit ready and easy change of a measuring chamber-from one size to another, so that difierent measured quantities of the contents of the container can be dispensed.

A further object is to provide an attachment by which a measured quantity of the contents of a container may be dispensed directly into an upright r'eceptacle while the container standsin upright position.- This feature of the invention permits material to be dispensed into a receptacle which is already nearly full and will be filled by theadded material, sothat such receptacle could;

not be held in inclined position without spilling its contents. I

- A--further object is to provide such-anattachment with'a singlewide dischargeopening so that it becomes unnecessary to add any second opening for venting purposes. 'With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention comprises the construction which will now be explained by detailed reference toxthe accompanying drawing which shows a1preferred embodiment'oi the inventiomin which i Figure 1 isa side-elevational view of a bottle or arciin uprightposition with the attachment app re l Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are side elevational viewsshowing the three steps of an operation for dispensing solid contents from 'a container equipped with the attachment; a

i 5 is a vertical sectional view-0f the attachment;

Fig. dis a cross sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. .7. is a side elevational view of three interchangeable measuring tubes of mutually different capacity; and

.Figs. 8, 9,19 and 11 are side elevational views showing successivesteps in the operation of dispensinga liquid from a container equipped with the attachment. r.

These views are made for the purpose of disclosureand not with-any intention of limiting the invention or the-scope of the appended claims to the details there shown. The illustrated embodiment constitutes the best'mode inwhich I contemplate applying the principles of the invention andshowsastructure which I have made and usedandwhich has proved to be eminently satisfactory." The .principles :of the invention may be .embodiedin other and different forms within the scope of the. appended claims.

. x In the drawing the reference numeral I designates a container in the form .of a bottle or jar the neck of whichis threaded or otherwise conventionally formed :at 2 to receive the customary cap or stopper (not shown). The attachment provided by the presentinvention includes a hollow domei3'suitably formed and shaped at its lower edge.4 tov complement the container portion Z-sof that-.thexattachment can. be interchanged with the cap or stopper. As shown, the portions 2 and 3 areithrea'ded, butin case the container receives merely an internalplug, such as a cork, the" dome will be iinsertible into the container neck. The details of this feature of the construction are no part of the invention, since it is sufli- I cient that: the attachment be interchangeable with-the containerclosure- Extending obliquely downwardly from an upper or intermediate portion of the dome is a part forming a'measurln'g chamber. 7 This whole part maybe unitary and integral with the dome, but I'prefer tomake it' of two separable elements. One'of these is a spud 5 which is integral with the dome and is threaded-or otherwise formed in the vicinity of its lower edge to receive a measuring tube 6. i This divided arrangement permit's'sevnates at its lower endin an orifice which ,is substantially asgreat infiarea as the cross-sectional area of the tube. This orifice is normally closed .by a closure plate 1, her shown in the form of a metal stamping having an integral handle 8" and mounted on the measuring tubeso as to.

swing about a pivot and be yieldably urged into closed position. v

The details of a preferred mounting arrangement are best shown in Fig. 6. 2 These consist of a pair of apertured ears 9 struck up, from or molded on the lower marginal edge of the meas uring tube and similar .ears.lll projecting from thehandle 8, all of the tearshavingtheir aper-' tures aligned and bearing a pintle ll. 'Wrapped aroundthe mid portion ofthe pintle is. a torsion spring l 2 the opposite end .portions of which bear against the rear surface of the handle and the adjacent side surface of the measuring tube. The seating faces of the closure plate and the measuring tube should make a good tight fit which Swill-b proof against-leakage by the kind of material that is to be handled. -bviously a somewhat better fit is. required forliquidsthan for. granular or powdered solidmaterials. r

The length of the tube and theangle of its inclinationwith respect to the dome are such that all .parts of the lowerendof the-tube, from which. its contents will be discharged by pressing the handle 8 toward the tube, are spacedoutwardly beyond the .peripheral plane of thebody of the. container wall.- This proportioning of the parts. is clearly shown in Fig. 1, and an .imporinto, a receptac1e.,.l3 which alreadycontains a liquid and would be filled to overflowing if the receptacle had to betilted to be positioned under the measuring tube.

.When the device is provided with. a separable spud and measuring .tube 6, as ispreferred, the joint between these two elements is best placed up in the spud at leastas far as th junction of the spud and dome, so. that material, whether liquid or solid, standing. at restin themeasuring chamber will be contained-wholly within the tube andwill not be in contact .with the wall of the spudabove the upper edge of. the tube. This arrangement ,-is clearly illustrated in Fig. 5, where the spud is internally threaded and surrounds thetube, which is. provided with an external thread meshed withth spud thread. By reference to this figure it will be evident that when material has been moved. from 'the con tainer I, through .the dome 3 .and into th measuring tube, the containermay he stood upright and the material in themeasuring. tube will settle by gravity to sucha level that it will be wholly below the upper end of the tubeelement per se.

In' this way there is no possibility of leakage.

through the joint by whichthe tube is connected be obvious from the foregoing explanation of its construction. If the container contents are a dry material, such as a powder or granular subtity some predetermined unit; such for example as one ounce. The other tubes, such as 6a and 6b,

will be made larger or smaller according to some appropriate scale, so as to have measured volumes of two ounces, one-half ounce, etc.

One using the device may shak the container and its attachment when restored to the upright position of Fig. 3 so as to level the contents of the measuring chamber, or he may simply permit';the'trapped contents of the chamber to settle at the angle of repose for the particular material. In either case performance of the same operations any number of times will always result in th measuring out of a'uniform quantity. The contents of the measuring chamber are discharged into some vessel like the receptacle l3 by simply pressing the handle 8 so as to open the closure while the receptacle is held below the discharge end of the tube, as is shown in Fig. 4.

Figs. 8,9, 10 and 11 illustrate asimilar method of measuring out a quantity of liquid from the container I. In such use of the device the relationship of the spud and detachable tube, by which liquid in the measuring chamber does not overlie the joint by which the spud and tube are connected, is quiteimportant. It will be obvious thatthere can be no leakage through this joint since the joint is uncovered by the liquid when the containerstands upright. Hence the container may. be left for any length of time with liquid in the measuring chamber, and none will be lost. Of course it is assumed that the closure element 1 makes good fit with the tube outlet.

This is easily arranged by care and precision in manufacture, or by employing a gasket in an obviousmanner. V

, The large openingat the lower end of the measuring tube, which is actually a bottomless tube because the size of the opening 'is equal to the cross sectional area of the tube, makes it unnecessary to vent the tube for discharging any kind of material, even very viscous substances 7 such as syrups, .heavy oils and the like. This is a real advantage because a continuously unclosed vent opening would be obviously objectionable, and the addition of a valve or a closure for a vent opening would detract from the simplicity ofthe device and add to itscost of manufacture.

The materialof which the attachment is made may bemetal, glass, plastic or-thelike. The shape. of the attachment readily adapts the several parts to be made by simple molding or stamping operations. l

It is. believed that from the foregoing it will be evident that the invention provides a'simple, inexpensive and entirely practical dispensing device having numerous novel and useful features. The details of the illustratedconstruction may be varied without departing from the principles of the invention aspointed out by the appended claims. 1 y

1. A dispensing attachment .for'a container such as a bottle or jar comprising a cap including a dome attachable at its bottom to the mouth of the container, a spud projecting obliquely downwardly from the dome and having a bore communicating therewith, and a measuring tube having an opena-ble closure at its lower end and attachable at its upper end to the lower end of the spud and adapted when so attached to have a portion of its upper edge extending into the bore of the spud at least as far as the junction of the spud and dome, whereby when material is moved from the container into the tube and leveled therein with the container upright the contents of the attachment will be wholly within the tube with the surface of such contents located below the level of the joint between the bore of the tube and the bore of the spud.

2. A dispensing attachment for a container such as a bottle or jar comprising a cap including a dome attachable at its bottom to the mouth of the container, a spud projecting obliquely downwardly from the dome and having a bore communicating therewith, and a measuring tube having an openable closure at its lower end and having its upper end insertible into the lower end of the spud for attachment to the spud, the extreme inner edge of the tube when so attached penetratingv the bore of the spud at least as far as the junction of the spud and dome, whereby material from the container leveled in the attachment after the container has been tilted and returned to upright position will contact only said closure and the bore of the tube and will not contact the bore of the spud.

3. In a dispensing attachment for a container such as a bottle or jar of the class in which there is mounted on the container mouth a dome having a downwardly projecting spud having a bore communicating with the dome, the combination of means for measuring a quantity of the container contents to be discharged comprising a measuring tube having a valved lower end and having an upper end adapted to be detachably received in the lower end of the bore of the spud with the lowest point on the upper end of the tube positioned at least as high as the lowest point on the junction between the dome and the spud when the container is upright, whereby material in the tube will tend to settle to a level below said junction and leakage will be prevented.

4. In a dispensing attachment for a container such as a bottle or jar of the class in which there is mounted on the container mouth a dome having a downwardly projecting spud having an internally screw threaded bore communicating with the dome, the combination of means for measuring a quantity of the container contents to be discharged comprising a measuring tube having a valved lower end and having an upper end provided with an external screwthread adapted to be engaged with the spud bore screwthread, the relation of the tube, spud and dome being such that when the tube is threaded in place and the container is upright the lowest point on the upper end of the tube will be positioned at least as high as the lowest point on the junction between the dome and the spud, so that material in the tube will tend to settle to a level below said junction and leakage will be prevented.

JOSEPH B. CLOWER.

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