US2878500A

US2878500A - Cleaning dabber

Info

Publication number: US2878500A
Application number: US531630A
Authority: US
Inventors: Thorpe Thomas Edward
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1954-10-13
Filing date: 1955-08-31
Publication date: 1959-03-24
Anticipated expiration: 1976-03-24

Description

March 24, 1959 T, E, THORPE 2,878,500

' CLEANING DABBR Filed Aug. 3l, 1955 .arroPA/EY CLEANIWG DABBER Thomas Edward Thorpe, London, England Application August 31, 1955, Serial No. 531,630

Claims priority, application Great Britain October 13, 1954 2 Claims. (Cl. 15-134) The present invention relates to cleaning dabbers for capping liquid containers to form reservoir cleaning devices and more particularly to the kind comprising an absorbent pad which is supported by a perforated plate or a plate adapted to be perforated and through which the cleaning liquid is supplied to meisten the pad when the device is used. Theser devices are more particularly intended for dabbing fabric material and sparingly applying thereto volatile cleansing liquid such as carbon tetrachloride to remove grease and other stains -from the fabric.

The present invention aims at providing an improved dabber of the kind described which will facilitate assem bly to the container, lessen the risk of the liquid escaping p otherwise than through the pad and will conduce tor effective closuring of the dabber to avoid loss, e.g., by evaporation of the cleaning liquid.

The dabber unit according to the present invention cornprises a crown ring, a pad-supporting plate adapted or adaptable by perforation or otherwise to allow a volatile liquid to pass through the plate to an absorbent pad, and an absorbent pad peripherally clamped on the pad-supporting plate, the crown ring having an outer face (adapted to co-operate under mechanical pressure with a co-operating face of an outer closure member to form an outer liquid-tight seal between the crown ring and the outer closure member) and an inner face (adapted to co-operate under mechanical pressure with the top of a bottle or other container to form an inner liquid-tight seal between the said top and the crown ring) and means whereby the crown ring may be secured to the neck of the bottle or other container, the crown ring or crown ring and pad-supporting plate being adapted to prevent liquid from passing peripherally between the said outer and inner seals. When the said dabber unit is sealingly clamped onto a bottle or other container escape of liquid from the container is prevented save by way of the exposed part of the pad. The crown ring and the pad-supporting plate may be made in one piece and may be pressed so as to compress and grip the margin of the pad, e.g., the said margin may be gripped by a continuous channel-section margin of .the pad-supporting plate lying adjacent the under surface of and integrally joined to the crown ring by a bend which forms the inner perimeter of the crown ring. The crown ring is preferably formed integrally with an axially extending outer skirt which is adapted to be deformed for permanently securing the ring to the bottle or other container, the skirted crown ring and pad-supporting plate forming a cap with a centrally situated recess for the absorbent pad and with the pad-supporting plate providing a lirm seating for the absorbent pad. The seating is preferably of domed or part spherical form.

Such a dabber-cap can be suitably secured to the neck of a bottle or other container, preferably by peening or spinning the skirt of the cap under a shoulder, e.g., formed by a groove, in the external wall of a neck of the bottle or container, which peening or spinning operation is done 2,878,500 Patented Mar. 24, 1959 after the container has 'been vcharged with the cleansing liquid.

For sealing the dabber unit to a container a resilient sealing ring or disc may be clamped between the dabberunit and the top of the bottle or other container so that there is no escape path for the volatile liquid in the container save through the exposed part of the pad. A sealing disc may be employed having at least one perforation (a single perforation is generally preferred) and it is advantageous to arrange for this perforation and a single perforation in the supporting plate to be out of registration and for the adjacent surfaces of the plate and sealing disc to be in close proximity to restrict ilow between the respective perforations.

The invention also includes a preferred method of peripherally clamping an absorbent pad on the padupporting plate wherein the absorbent pad is laid in the centrally situated recess and the bottom of the recess and the top of the crown ring around the recess are pressed towards one another causing the metal to be deformed so that the peripheral wall of the recess and the periphery of the supporting plate forming the bottom of the recess are compressed on to and grip the peripheral margin of the absorbent pad. Preferably, as a result of the pressing operation, the peripheral wall of the recess is collapsed to lie under the crown ring and substantially parallel with the said crown ring and with the margin of the bottom of the recess, and advantageously as a result of the pressing operation the bottom of the recess is domed and the absorbent pad rmly stretched over it. The absorbent pad may be formed by a circular disc of woollen fabric material.

An important advantage of a dabber unit according to the invention is that the crown ring forms an external sealing surface for co-operating with the co-operating surface of the crown of an outer closure member which is conveniently a screw cap which engages threads on'the neck of the container and in being screwed home tightly clamps a sealing ring or disc between the said co-operat ing surfaces. The said co-operating surfaces may be at, domed or spheroidal. A disc may be used as the sealing member between the outer cap and the crown ring and this may be a cork disc which may be coated, or faced, e.g., with a metal foil, or the disc may be made of a suitable resilient synthetic plastic or rubber material, eg., that sold under the registered trademark Thiokol, the aim being to avoid attack on the disc by the liquid in the container. A similar sealing element may be used, if 'desired, between the dabber unit and the top of the bottle or container.

The centre portion of the outer cap may be a raised dome to accommodate the domed centre of the sealing disc overlying the domed absorbent pad.

With the outer cap screwed home, the charged container is securely sealed and when the outer cap is removed the liquid will escape by way ofthe exposed area of the pad. As an additional security against loss of liquid during transit from factory to shop of the closured container, a sleeve of sealing material, such as a strip of a suitable thermoplastic material, may be sealed across the outer cap and the neck of the container.

The invention is illustrated by way of example on an enlarged vscale in the accompanying drawing which shows in Fig. 1 a cross-sectional view through a bottle neck tted with the dabber unit. Fig. 2 shows a suitable'form of stamping with a disc of absorbent material in place ready for a pressing operation to form the dabber unit in accordance with the preferred method of clamping.

Referring to Fig. 1, the bottle or other container may be of any suitable shape and the neck 1 thereof is an nularly grooved at 2 and below the groove is externally screwthreaded at 3.

T he dabber unit comprises a circular supporting plate 4 with a central perforationfS, e.g., of 0.05" in diameter, and supports anabsorbent pad 6, which is exposed in the central aperture of a crown ring 7. The perforation may be formed after the reservoir cleaning device has been filled and assembled. The margin of the pad is gripped by a continuous channel-section margin of the supporting plate, the overlying portion 8 of which lies adjacent the under surface of, and is integrally joined to the crown ring 7 by a bend which forms the inner perimeter of the said crown ring and the perimeter of the recess in which the pad is exposed. The crown ring 7 is integrally connected with an axially extending skirt 9, thus forming with the supporting plate 4 a cap with a central recess exposing the pad and providing a firm seating for the pad. The pad 6 is of a woollen fabric material.

The illustrated dabber cap is made from one piece of thin gauge metal, which (see Fig. 2) is in the form of a cap-like stamping 17 formed with a central recess 18, the portion 7a eventually forming the crown ring 7, the portion 9a forming the skirt 9, the bottom 4a of the recess forming the supporting plate 4 and the peripheral wall 8a forming the aforesaid overlying portion 8. The circular disc of fabric material 6 is laid on the bottom of the recess, and then by a pressing operation the bottom 4a of the recess and the crown-ring portion 7a are pressed towards one another, causing the peripheral wall 8a of the recess to be collapsed to lie close against the underside of the crown ring and to compress and clamp the margin of the pad between itself and the margin of the bottom of the recess. As a result of the pressing operation, the metal is deformed so that the crown ring and the peripheral wall portion adjacent to it close in radially and the bottom of the recess and the adjacent end portion of the peripheral wall are extended radially outwards so that the pad will be effectively clamped and secured 'rmly over the supporting plate, which as a result of the pressing operation is given a dome or spherical form, the crown ring exposing a circular portion of the pad which protrudes through the aperture in the ring and the supporting plate rmly seating the pad. If a suitably thin metal, e.g., of 0.011" in thickness is employed for the stamping an appreciable step between the periphery and the bottom of the recess and the inside of the crown ring can be avoided in the pressed unit although the pad-gripping portions of the cap are narrower than the width of the crown ring, and, with the aid of a compressible sealing disc or ring, a good surface seal can be obtained between the top edge face of the glass or other container and the cap. In the pressing operation the crown ring and the wall 8a are also shaped to a spherical or dome form.

A sealing disc is provided. This may be of cork, preferably with a facing or coating on one or both sides to resist attack by the liquid, or may be of any suitable resilient material resistant to such attack. The disc has a small hole 11.

With the sealing disc arranged on the inside of the cap, the cap and the disc are applied together to the neck of the bottle and sealed thereto by pressure on the cap and peening or spinning the free end of the skirt 9 thereof under the shoulder formed by the aforesaid groove 2.

The crown ring extends radially outwards beyond the periphery of the channel-like margin of the plate and the sealing disc is sealed to the inner face thereof and to the The hole 11 is shown as registering with the hole 5, but it may be out of registration therewith so that, since the disc and the plate are disposed with their adjacent surfaces in close proximity the How from the hole in the disc to the hole in the plate is desirably restricted.

The external surface of the crown-ring 7 provides a seating for a sealing member employed between an outer cap 12 and the inner cap.

The outer cap, likewise of metal, has a screw-threaded skirt 13 to co-operate with the threads of the bottle neck and its crown is formed with a marginal annulus 14 j which, when the outer cap is screwed home, compresses top face of the neck of the container. The said channelshaped margin prevents any escape of liquid from the perimeter of the pad.

the margin of the sealing member 15 between itself and the crown ring of the dabber unit. The crown of the outer cap has a central raised dome 16 to accommodate the central zone of the sealing member 1S, and to define the marginal annulus 14. The parts may be proportioned so that the member 15 presses against the domed outer face of the pad.

WhatI claim is:

1. A dabber unit adapted for capping a bottle or other liquid container to form a reservoir cleaning device and comprising a crown ring, a pad-supporting plate and a substantially disc shaped absorbent pad, the said supporting plate having a continuous inwardly opening channel-section margin lying adjacent the under surface of and integrally joined to the said ring by a bend which forms the inner perimeter of the ring, the plate and the ring being thereby integrally connected to form a unit, the pad being peripherally clamped by said channel section margin and the supporting plate being pressed upwardly into a substantially dome shape to stretch said pad to form a substantially continuous curved surface with said crown ring, and the outer perimeter of the crown ring being integral with an axially extending skirt whereby the unit may be secured to the container, the outer face of the said ring being adapted to co-operate with a co-operating face of an outer closure member to form an outer liquid-tight seal and the inner face of the said unit being adapted to co-operate with the top of the container to form an inner liquid-tight seal so that liquid is prevented from passing peripherally between the inner and outer seals.

2. A dabber unit according to claim 1 in which said skirt is deformed under a shoulder on the bottle, a sealing disc is clamped between the under marginal face of the said unit and the top of the container, the said disc hav ing at least one perforation for the passage of liquid to the said plate, and a cap member secured over the dabber unit to the bottle and a sealing member clamped between the crown of said cap and the outer surface of the said crown ring.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 420,785 Gustafson Feb. 4, 1890 1,243,967 Nielsen Oct. 23, 1917 1,481,733 Paull Jan. 22, 1924 1,491,643 Tanenbaum Apr. 22, 1924 1,918,215 Runnels July 11, 1933 1,947,667 Von Till Feb. 20,1934 2,095,423 Tilley Oct. 12, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 689,636 Great Britain Apr. 1, 1953 861,147 Germany Dec. 29, 1952