US2898004A

US2898004A - Combined multiple compartment container and pouring spout

Info

Publication number: US2898004A
Application number: US713245A
Authority: US
Inventors: Milton H Klausmann
Original assignee: Seal Spout Corp
Current assignee: Seal Spout Corp
Priority date: 1958-02-04
Filing date: 1958-02-04
Publication date: 1959-08-04
Anticipated expiration: 1976-08-04

Description

1959 M. H- KLAU-SMANN 2,898,004

COMBINED MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT CONTAINER AND POURING SPOUT Filed Feb. 4, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

MILTON H. KLAUSMANN BY g M ATTORNEY 1959 M. H. KLAUSMANN 2,898,004

COMBINED MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT CONTAINER AND POURING SPOUT Filed Feb. 4. 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 33 INVENTOR.

MILTON H.KLAUSMANN A BY @M I ATTORNEY United States Patent COMBINED MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT CON- TAINER AND POURING SPOUT Milton H. Klausmann, Summit, NJ., assignor to Sea]- Spout Corporation, Newark, NJ., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 4, 1958, Serial No. 713,245 2 Claims. to]. 222-129 This invention relates in general to a container having a plurality of separate. compartments each of which may contain a different fluent commodity, in combination with means for simultaneously discharging the commodities separately from the compartments. a

A primary object of the invention is to provide a container having-a plurality of separate'companments for comminuted or granular substance, each having an opening in one wall of the container, in combination with a spout hingedly. connected to said wall and having a section for each compartment so that the spout may swing in one direction to simultaneously close said openings and may swing in the opposite direction to simultaneously open the compartments topermit quantities of the con tents of the several compartments to be dispensed from the container simultaneously and selectively in separate streams or in separate measured quantities. s A'further object is to provide a combination of a container and spout of this character wherein the container shall have at least one partition'dividing the container into at least two compartments, and the spout shall include a body portion "having two spaced but rigidly connected sections that are movable simultaneously through openings in a wall of the container into and out of the container one at each of opposite sides of said partition so that the contents ofthe two compartments can be separately dispensed from the compartments upon movement of the spout in one direction and both compartments can be simultaneously, positively and completely closed upon movement of the spout in the opposite direction.

Other objects are to provide in such a combination a novel and improved, simple and inexpensive pouring spout or combined pouring and-measuring spout; and to obtain other advantages and results that will be brought out by the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which Figure l is a perspective view of a combined container and spout constructed in accordance with the invention, showing both the container and the spout in closed condition;' V

Figure 2 is a similar view showing both the spout and the container in opencondition; I Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view approximately on the plane of the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view on the plane. of the line 4-4 of Figure 3, showing one section of the spout for pouring operations;

Figure Sis a vertical sectional view on the plane of the line 55'of Figure 3; f u V v V Figure 6 is a viewsimilar to Figure-4 on the plane of the line 66 of Figure 3 showing the other section of the spout for measuring-dispensing operations; Figure 7is a view'similar-to Figure :6 showing the spout in open position;

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view on the plane of the line 8-8 of Figure 3 showing the pouring spout in closed position;

2,898,004 Patented Aug. 4, 1959 v the two compartments of the container; and

Figure 11 is a similar view showing the spout being used for pouring the contents of the compartments in continuous separate streams.

Figure 12 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary vertical sectionalview similar to Figure 5 and showing a modification of the construction of the spout.

Specifically describing the illustrated embodiment of the invention the reference character A designates the body portion of a container which is formed of any suitable material such as cardboard, fiberboard or the like and is divided into a plurality of commodity compartments 1 and 2 by a partition wall 3 which is shown as interposed between and secured to front and rear walls 4 and 5 of the container. The partition 3 is also secured to the bottom wall 6 of the container and the compartments 1 and 2 normally open through the top of the container which is closable in any suitable manner as by known types of flaps 7.

One wall of the container, preferably although not necessarily, the front wall 4 is provided with a plurality of substantially rectangular discharge apertures 8, one for each of the commodity compartments, and a correspondingly shaped tongue 9 integrally connected with said wall at one end of each aperture as indicated at 9' for hinging movement into and out of the aperture for a purpose to be described.

. Cooperating with the container A is a pouring spout B connected to the wall 4 at one end of the apertures 8 so as to overlie and close both of said apertures when in one position and to uncover or open both of said apertures when in another position. The spout comprises two spaced but rigidly connected sections each of which is movable through one of the apertures 8 into and out of the container so that upon movement of the spout in one direction the contents of the two compartments can be separately dispensed from the compartments without dan get of, mixing the contents of one compartment with the contents of the other compartment, while upon movement of the spout in the opposite direction both compartments can be simultaneously, positively and completely closed. The spout is shown as formed of thin sheet metal bent upon itself to form a fiat body portion 11 and sector shapedside walls 12 in the side edges of the body portion that have arcuate edges 13 concentric with the axis of swinging of the spout. The body portion 11 is of a size to span and cover both of the apertures 8 and the por tion of the container wall 4 between them and one of the side walls 12 frictionally engages the outer side edge 14 of each of the apertures Secured to the inner side of the body portion 11 between the side walls 12 are a pair of auxiliary arcuate side walls 15 of a shape and size similar to the walls 12 and each frictionally engaging the inner side edge 17 of one of the apertures 8; As shown, the auxiliary side walls 15 comprise parts of a channel shaped member 0 the side flanges of which constitute the walls 15 and the base or bottom 16 of which is rigidly secured in any suit able manner to vthe body portion 11 of the spout. As shown in Figures -3 and 5, thebody portion 11 and base 16Fmay be spot welded as indicated at 18, or if desired,

as shown'inFigure 12, prongs 19 may be struck up from the body' portion 11, passed through openings 20 in the base 16am clinchedover the inner side of said base The spout may be hingedly connected to the wall of the container in any suitable manner, but as shown a pair of prongs or teeth 21 project from the body portion 11 through the tongue 9 adjacent the hinge point thereof so as to permit swinging movement of the spout and" tongue at the same time and prevent the spout from being pulled out of the discharge apertures 8. With this construction, it will be observed that each of the side walls .12 and one. of the auxiliary side Walls with that: part of the body portion 11 between them, constitute a section. of the spout B for each of the apertures 8. Asusual, the outer ends of the side walls 12 are provided with lugs 22 to engage the inside of the wall 4 for preventing. swing- ,ing movement of the spout outwardly of the opening, and the :body portion 11 has an extension 23 at its free end to abut the outside of the wall 4 and limit movement of the spout in the other direction. Also, preferably the side walls 12 are provided with outwardly projecting protuberances 24 to engage the inner side of the wall when the spout is closed as shown in Figures 3 and 6,. to releasably hold the spout in closed position.

Preferably, a tongue 9 of each aperture is so formed that a portion 25 of the wall of the container opposite the end of each aperture at which the spout is. hinged, is disposed between the

side walls

12 and 15 so as to hold said side walls apart and in frictional engagement with the side edges of the aperture; and the tongue itself tends to hold the

side walls

12 and 15 of each spout section in proper spaced relation and in contact with the side edges of the corresponding aperture.

The tongue 9 is associated with the spout selectively in different ways so that the spout may be either a measuring spout or a plain pouring spout, and one section may be arranged for pouring and the other section for measuring if desired. For measuring purposes the tongue 9 is bent out of the general plane of the wall 4 of the container and has its free end separably connected to the side walls or

flanges

12 and 15 of the corresponding spout section as shown at the upper portion of Figure 3, and in Figures 6 and 10. Various forms of connection between the tongues and the spout may be utilized but preferably each flange or side wall 12 has portions 25 stamped or pressed inwardly thereof in spaced relation to each other to serve as abutments for and to receive between them the corresponding edge portion of the tongue 9 as shown in the upper portion of Figure 3 and in Figure 6. After the body portion of the spout has been connected to the container wall by the prongs 21, the tongue 9 may be swung inwardly of the container and. its edges may be snapped into position between the corresponding abutments 25'. Thereafter the tongue. will swing with the body portion and the wings of the spout between the open and closed position of the spout as shownv in Figures 6 and 1.0, respectively.

In use of the spout for measuring, when it is desired to dispense or discharge a predetermined quantity of the contents of either compartment, the tongue 9 will have been positioned as above described and the container will be tilted or turned upside down so as to cause some of the contents to flow into the measuring pocket formed between the body portion 11 and the tongue 9 (Figure. 6), whereupon the spout will be pulled into open ordischarge position as shown in Figures 7 and 10, after which the container and spout can be tilted in such a way as to cause the contents of the measuring pocket to flow by gravity out of the pocket, and then the spout can be pushed back into the container to close the discharge apertures as shown in Figure 6.

Figures 8, 9 and 11 and the lower portion of Figure 3 show the spout adapted for pouring the container contents through the discharge aperture in a. continuous stream instead of in measured quantities. Here the tongue 9 is disconnected from the abutments 25' and swung forwardly into flatwise abutting relation to the body portion 11 of the spout so that the contents of the container can freely flow outwardly of the discharge aper- 4 tune over the tongue 9. through thespout. Desirably, inwardly extending protuberances 26 are provided in the side walls 12 to receive between them and the body portion the corresponding edge portions of the tongue 9 to hold the tongue in said position.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the manner of forming the compartments in the container and the number of the compartments may be varied if desired and, that the number of spout sections may be varied to correspond to the number of compartments.

The two spout sections are movable simultaneously into open and closed positions and each spout section is disposed wholly within its corresponding compartment; and the partition tightly separates the compartments. Consequently, there is a minimum of possibility of the contents of the two compartments becoming unintentionally mixed with each other. The spout is simple, inexpensive and reliable in operation, and the construction thereof makes it possible to simultaneously mount spout sections for all of the compartments in the container wall.

Other modifications and changes in the structural details of the container and the spout will occur to those skilled in the art as within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. The combination of a container having a partition therein providing a plurality of separate compartments each for a difierent dry fluent commodity, the container having a wall in which there is a discharge opening for each of said compartments, and a combined closure and spout including a body portion formed of a single piece of material of a size simultaneously to overlie and close all of said discharge openings, a sector shaped wall projecting integrally and angularly from each end of said body portion, and a plurality of other similar sector shaped walls secured to and projecting angularly from said body portion between the first-mentioned sector shaped walls each in spaced relation to the next adjacent sector shaped wall, each of said sector shaped walls frictionally engaging a side edge of one of said discharge openings, said sector shaped walls having arcuate edges concentric with one end edge of said body portion, and means hingedly connecting said body portion along said edge thereof to said container wall at one end of said discharge openings. 1

2. The combination of a container having a partition therein providing a plurality of separate compartments each for a different dry fluent commodity, the container having a wall in which there is a discharge opening for each of said compartments, and a. combined closure and spout including a body portion formed of a single piece of material of a size simultaneously to overlie and close all of said discharge openings, a sector shaped wall projecting integrally and angularly from each end of said body portion, each frictionally engaging the outer side edge of one of said discharge openings, a channel-shaped member having a base secured to said body portion between said sector shaped walls and having sector shaped side flanges each in spaced relation to one of said sector shaped walls and frictionally engaging the inner side edge of one of said discharge openings, said sector shaped side walls and flanges having arcuate edges concentric with one end edge of said body portion, and means hingedly connecting said body portion along said edge thereof to said container wall at one end of said discharge openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,069,738 Buchen Feb..9, 1937 2,221,355 Longan Nov. 12, 1940 2,498,795 Davis Feb. 28, 1950