US3491925A

US3491925A - Anti-drop fitment

Info

Publication number: US3491925A
Application number: US647259A
Authority: US
Inventors: Stig P O Sundgren
Original assignee: STIG P O SUNDGREN
Current assignee: STIG P O SUNDGREN
Priority date: 1967-06-19
Filing date: 1967-06-19
Publication date: 1970-01-27
Anticipated expiration: 1987-01-27

Description

an. 27, 1970 s. P. o. SUNDGREN l 3,491,925 ANT I-DROP FITMENT Original Filed A ril 8, 1965 l4 5 1 F? T h: l0 l (I I I I m i l H Z "I Fi. .Z

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FIG. 2

INVENTOR STIG PER-OLOF SUNDGREN ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,491,925 ANTI-DROP FITMENT Stig P. 0. Sundgren, Hognasvagen 1, Lidingo, Sweden Continuation of application Ser. No. 506,687, Nov. 8, 1965. This application June 19, 1967, Ser. No. 647,259 Int. Cl. B67d 5/00 US. Cl. 222571 3 Claims ABSTRACT on THE DISCLOSURE An anti-drop fitment for liquid containers such as bottles and the like is disclosed. The anti-drop fitment consists of a tubular member having a specifically designed upper portion in the form of a collar above a flange wherein the flange extends around the other surface of the tubular member.

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 506,687 filed Apr. 8, 1965 and now abandoned.

This invention relates to an anti-drop fitment for liquid containers such as bottles and the like. Anti-drop fitments comprising cylindrical or close to cylindrical elements and with a flange element combined with this cylindrical element are known to the art. Elements of this type have been provided with flanges having inclined planes so that liquids will flow over the edge of said inclined plane. The flange will form an angle with the upper surface and usually be less than 90. These prior art elements are usually produced from a plastic material which exhibits water repelling properties. The plastic material should be reasonably water repelling and should be formable to such a degree that it can be molded.

Such an anti-drop fitment as indicated in FIGURE 1 will function well but it has been found that drops will form and may move down the outer side of the bottle in which the fitment is applied.

It has been found that the ability of liquids to moisten the plastic is rather dependent upon the kind of liquid used. Thus, when pouring a liquid from a bottle with an anti-drop fitment of the above-indicated kind, said liquid being less prone to form drops, which means that it has a greater tendency of moistening the plastic, moistening will not take place at first. Upon pouring repeatedly small quantities from the bottle, drop formation will occur at the edge of the flange at a given number of such pouring operations. Such will often be the case as for example when filling Wine glasses at a dinner table or the like.

Thus in one example, a simple red wine was poured through the anti-drop fitment in quantities of about 1 com. and with a frequency of one such quantity every three or four seconds. Initially, n0 drops formed outside of the inner surfaces of the cylindrical part, but after between six to eight pourings a clearly visible drop started forming on the upper side of the flange, and with continued pouring the drop was quickly enlarged until it finally slipped around the outer edge of the flange and down along the neck of the bottle.

When the bottle is placed in an upright position, this drop will fall down on the support, for example upon a dining droom table and may damage said table or the table covering.

The moistening of the plastic through repeated pourings is a phenomenon which has not been explained, but which causes the drop protection fitment of the aboveindicated prior art kind to be ineffective upon repeated pourings.

The present invention relates to an anti-drop fitment, in which the above-mentioned disadvantages have been eliminated.

According to this invention, the upper part of the antidrop fitment extends a short distance above the flange so that an angular like groove is formed between the outer side of said cylindrical element and the upper side of the flange. In tests as for example the one described above, it has been proved that there should exist a tendency to form a drop at repeated pourings which is restricted in size to the angle between the upper side of the flange and the outer side of the cylindrical element. The drop therefore will not free itself from the angle be tween these two elements. In addition, the drop formed between these two elements will not be enlarged since the size of the drop is restricted and limited to the distance between the outside of the cylindrical element and the upper side of the flange. Upon repeated pourings, the liquid will be further restricted in size to the angle between the upper side of the flange and outer side of the cylindrical tube. This size will in all cases be insufiicient to release the drop over the side of the flange.

This invention will be further described in connection with the drawings in which FIGURE 1 is the prior art anti-drop fitment. FIGURE 2 is the anti-drop fitment according to this invention.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, an anti-drop fitment of the prior art is presented. In the neck of a bottle 10 the cylindrical part 11 of the anti-drop fitment is inserted, so that tightening will be effected between the cylindrical element 11 and the inner side of the bottle neck 10. For this purpose, the anti-drop fitment is made of an elastically formable material, preferably a plastic. Further, ovoloformed rings 12 are provided on the outer side of, the cylindrical element 11. The cylindrical element 11 has an opening through which the liquid may be poured. The flange 13 is provided on the upper side of the anti-drop fitment. This flange is preferably defined on its upper side by a plane running perpendicularly to the axial direction of the anti-drop fitment, the lower flange 13 outside of the cylindrical element 11, however, being slightly conical, for instance having a point angle at its periphery of from between 640. This angle is in no way critical, and may be essentially greater or less but in all cases is less than The anti-drop fitment in the prior art will function in the following way:

When a beverage contained in a bottle is poured from said bottle the beverage will flow through the cylindrical element 11 and over the upper side of the flange 13 but will not move past sharp edge 14 to the conically inclined part 15, due to this unusually sloping element, and also due to the water repelling properties of the material. When the bottle is again brought back into vertical position a small drop is collected on the upper side of the flange 13 and can upon subsequent pourings move over the flange edge 14. This collected drop is shown as 16 in FIGURE 1. Thus, it seems that the properties of the plastic during the pouring operation are changed upon repeated short pourings and the plastic therefore becomes less water repellant and would thus cause the collection of the drop as indicated at 16, in FIGURE 1.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, FIGURE 2 shows that anti-drop fitment of the present invention. The present invention resides in the provision of a tubular member having a specifically designed upper portion in the form of a collar 17 above a flange 13 which flange extends around the outer surface of the tubular member. A lower portion 11 of this tubular member is adapted to be secured to the opening of a container such as a bottle 10 or the like. The collar 17 of this tubular member, in conjunction with the flange, provides means to prevent the contents of the container from dripping during or after pouring from the container. The distance which the colicelar extends upwardly of the flange is less than the distance that the flange extends outwardly of the tubular member.

Repeated tests have shown that this specific arrangement is far superior to that of the prior art devices of the type shown in FIGURE 1.

It has been found that in the initial stages of the pouring operation the cooperative arrangement of the collar member and the flange causes the liquid to flow from the upper, pouring edge of the tubular collar over the pouring edge of the flange. Few, if any, drops will be formed during this part of the pouring operation. As the pouring continues and as the bottle from which the liquid being poured is further tipped from the upright position, the liquid will flow over the pouring edge of the tubular collar without contacting the pouring edge of the flange; Any drops which may have formed on the outside surface of the tubular collar up to this point of the pouring operation will be attached by surface tension in the angle between the flange upper surface and the tubular collar, with the drops initially having a convex miniscus surface and growing with the addition .of the drops to form a liquid volume having a spherical surface, the upper boundary of this surface is set by the height of the tubular collar. As the bottle is returned toward the upright position as the pouring stream again flows from the pouring edge of the tubular collar over the pouring edge of the flange, the liquid stream contacts the drops having a spherical surface which tends to gather on the portion of the anti-drop fitment directly beneath the pouring stream and carries a portion of the drops over the outer surface with the stream; when the bottle reaches a sub-' stantially upright position, any drops remaining in excess of a constant amount determined by the angle between the flange and the tubular collar are carried back into the bottle by a combination of liquid surface tension and siphon action of the returning liquid stream. As the pouring operations are repeated, any liquid in excess of a constant amount which is retained at the tubular collar flange intersection is similarly carried .over with the pouring stream when the latter is in contact with the pouring edge of the flange, or is returned to the bottle at the end of the pouring operation; as a result, no drippage over the flange and down the neck of the bottle occurred when the bottle is again tilted since the drops retained in the angle formed by the outer surface of the tubular collar and the upper surface of the pouring flange are of insuflicient mass and volume to overcome the surface tension effects holding them in this angle.

A decrease of the angle between the outer surface of the tubular member 17 and the upper surface of the flange 13 may take place either by letting the upper surface of the flange 13 be somewhat conically inclined or by making the collar slightly in a funnel shape and extending outwardly.

The anti-drop fitment according to the invention does not necessarily have to be cylindrical but may have any suitable sectional form.

The anti-drop fitment of thepresent invention can be used in connection with bottles, cans, and other containers for liquids as well as other kinds of containers such as flexible piping nozzles and the like.

This invention has been described in detail with particular reference to FIGURE 2, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected in the spirit and scope of the invention as described herein above and as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A drip preventing pouring spout for preventing dripping of liquid poured through the liquid pouring opening of amember comprising a hollow tubular hydrophobic plastic member having inner and outer tubular surfaces, the interior of said hollow tubular member being large enough to permit free pouring of liquids therethrough, an imperforate circumferential pouring flange disposed around and extending a short distance outwardly of the outer surface of said tubular member intermediate the ends of said tubular member, said flange including a planar upper surface disposed at a angle of substantially 90 with respect to the longitudinal axis of said tubular member extending above said flange and a lower surface having a portion extending outwardly and upwardly to the outer edge of the upper surface of the flange to form an acute angle with said upper surface at the periphery of said flange to form a sharp pouring edge, the portion of said tubular member above the flange comprising a tubular collar extending upwardly of said upper, planar, flange surface a distance about one-half of the distance that the said upper flange surface extends outwardly of the outer surface of said tubular member, the

. outer surface of said collar forming an angle of about 90 with said upper flange surface, said collar terminating in an upper pouring lip, the spacial relationship of the two said pouring lips, the said flange and the said collar being such that the liquid poured through the open- 1 ing contacts both pouring lips and when the spout is returned to the upright position, excess drops collect at the junction between the collar and the said upper surface of the flange, the portion of said tubular member below the flange comprising meansfor securing said pouring 'spout within the liquid pouring opening of said member.

2. A pouring spout according to claim 1 wherein said tubular member is cylindrical.

3. A pouring spout according to claim 2 wherein said flange and tubular members are integral.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,109,720 3/1938 Deschner 215-73 2,848,145 8/1958 Livingstone 222-542 3,198,393 8/1965 Kitterman 222-109 FOREIGN PATENTS 790,378 2/1958 Great Britain.

ROBERT B, REEVES, Primary Examiner