Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
  • B05B11/00—Single-unit hand-held apparatus in which flow of contents is produced by the muscular force of the operator at the moment of use
  • B05B11/01—Single-unit hand-held apparatus in which flow of contents is produced by the muscular force of the operator at the moment of use characterised by the means producing the flow
  • B05B11/02—Membranes or pistons acting on the contents inside the container, e.g. follower pistons
  • B05B11/028—Pistons separating the content remaining in the container from the atmospheric air to compensate underpressure inside the container
  • B05B11/029—Pistons separating the content remaining in the container from the atmospheric air to compensate underpressure inside the container located on top of the remaining content
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
  • B05B11/00—Single-unit hand-held apparatus in which flow of contents is produced by the muscular force of the operator at the moment of use
  • B05B11/01—Single-unit hand-held apparatus in which flow of contents is produced by the muscular force of the operator at the moment of use characterised by the means producing the flow
  • B05B11/10—Pump arrangements for transferring the contents from the container to a pump chamber by a sucking effect and forcing the contents out through the dispensing nozzle
  • B05B11/1001—Piston pumps
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
  • B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
  • B05B11/00—Single-unit hand-held apparatus in which flow of contents is produced by the muscular force of the operator at the moment of use
  • B05B11/01—Single-unit hand-held apparatus in which flow of contents is produced by the muscular force of the operator at the moment of use characterised by the means producing the flow
  • B05B11/10—Pump arrangements for transferring the contents from the container to a pump chamber by a sucking effect and forcing the contents out through the dispensing nozzle
  • B05B11/1042—Components or details
  • B05B11/1073—Springs
  • B05B11/1074—Springs located outside pump chambers

Definitions

• This invention has to do with dispensing systems and methods for filling them with flowable material to be dispensed.
• a well known type of dispensing system useful with thick and viscous products such as pharmaceutical and cosmetic creams and lotions, has a plunger action dispenser pump mounted on or in the cover of a cylindrical container.
• a stiff feed tube for the pump extends down to the bottom of the container and a follower plate fits axially slidably around the feed tube.
• the follower plate lies on top of the product mass to follow it down the container as dispensing proceeds . This helps to ensure complete clearance of the contents. In the absence of a follower plate the formation of cavities in the product near the foot of the feed tube can make it impossible to clear the container completely.
• the flowable product can be forced up inside the feed tube. This can reduce or eliminate the difficulties with priming referred to above, even when the outlet valve is a strict one.
• the rim region of the container includes structure dedicated to securing the cover rather than to maintaining the seal with the follower plate, the height limiting abutment can keep the follower plate in sealing engagement with the inner sealing surface proper rather than encroaching on the securing construction at the rim. We find that this can help reduce incidences in which the follower plate fails to act.
• the predetermined level for the follower plate is generally one at which it makes a seal against the container wall. Usually this is spaced below the container rim, and especially where the container rim has a radially recessed band adjacent the rim for cover securement purposes .
• the follower plate takes the form of a generally level continuous web with an upwardly projecting sealing lip around its outer edge, making sealing contact at or near its upper extremity.
• the centre of the follower plate has a hole for the feed tube, and a sealing construction at the inner periphery desirably has a downwardly-directed (downwardly convergent) sealing lip to facilitate feed tube insertion.
• the downwardly-directed inner sealing lip is generally provided on a central upwardly- projecting construction so that the underside of the follower plate can descend unobstructed right to the floor of the container.
• an upward lip may be used e.g. if the feed tube can be inserted up through the follower plate.
• the structure and disposition of the height limiting abutment can be chosen from a variety of options.
• One approach would be to provide one or more internal projections of the container side wall. This is least preferred because of the need for a special container and the requirement that while the projection (s) will adequately prevent rise of the follower plate, the follower plate must nevertheless be conveniently insertable down past the projection (s) during assembly.
• engagement by the height limiting abutment acts against a component other than the container, i.e. one or more of the feed tube, other pump components (where present at the underside of the cover) and the cover itself.
• the height limiting abutment engagement for the follower plate is distributed around the feed tube. This levels the follower plate as the abutment counters the pressure of material beneath the plate .
• the arrangement can effectively function as a spacer between the general level of the follower plate and the general level of the cover. To this end it may comprise one or both of an upward projection on the follower plate and a downward projection on the cover. Or it may be on one of the pump components mounted thereto.
• a preferred form of abutment is annular, and most preferably immediately adjacent the feed tube exterior either as an integral projection thereof or as a discrete spacer element which can fit around the feed tube.
• a discrete element because of the design flexibility enabling different axial sizes of abutment to be chosen.
• an air vent is provided through the cover adjacent the top of the feed tube/pump body, e.g. as one or more small openings into or past the pump body.
• the height limiting construction of the present proposals preferably engages the follower plate below the air vent arrangement, leaving clearance for venting above the engagement.
• the abutment e.g. annular spacer, may itself include one or more vent openings for this purpose .
• this may be one or more vent openings from the inside to the outside of the annulus, and/or one or more vent openings from the top to the bottom of the annulus .
• Such openings are conveniently provided as recessed portions of the top/bottom/inner surfaces of the spacer, as appropriate.
• a filled dispensing system of the kind described in which the height limiting abutment holds the follower plate down at a predetermined level as described above, is one aspect of the invention.
• a further aspect is a method of filling a dispensing system of the kind described, including filling the material into the container (optionally with heating to reduce its viscosity) , positioning the follower plate and inserting the feed tube.
• the order of operations first explained need not necessarily be followed. That is, the steps of positioning the follower plate on the material surface and of pushing the feed tube down into the material maybe interchanged or may overlap.
• the height limiting abutment can serve a useful effect even when the follower plate is introduced into the container as part of an assembly with the feed tube.
• Fig 1 is an axial cross-section of a dispensing system
• Fig 2 is a relatively enlarged axial cross-section of the upper part of a dispensing system, showing a height limiting arrangement in accordance with the invention.
• Figs 3 and 4 show plans and radial sections at two kinds of annular height limiting spacer.
• a container 1 for material (M) to be dispensed has a cylindrical side wall 12 and a generally flat base 11.
• the top opening of the container is closed by a top cover cap 2 having a downward peripheral skirt 23 with internal circumferential ribs 24 making a secure and air-tight snap engagement over corresponding outwardly directed ribs 14 around the rim of the container wall.
• the cover cap 2 has a flat horizontal main web 21 with a central circular opening 22 through which a pump construction is mounted as described below.
• the manner in which the cap 2 fits onto the container 1 is not critical and may be varied as desired, e.g. by using a screw thread.
• the top rim of the container has a reduced-thickness zone 15 to facilitate the deformation required for snap fitting; here the container's inner diameter is radially enlarged relative to the otherwise uniform cylindrical inner surface 16.
• a stiff cylindrical feed tube 3 extends vertically from the top to the bottom of the container. At the bottom it rests against the container base 11, with lateral openings 38 for material to enter.
• the present embodiment locates the foot of the feed tube over a cruciform spike 13, as discussed in our EP-A-765690.
• an integral tubular threaded extension 33 of the feed tube 3 projects up through the cover opening 22 and is held in place by a threaded-on fixing collar and plunger guide component 6.
• the feed tube component has an integral annular flange 34 projecting out radially immediately below the top extension 33, and the web 21 of the cover cap is trapped between this and the downward skirt 61 of the guide component 6 to hold the feed tube 3 and cover 2 together as a single assembly.
• the outer surface 36 of the feed tube 3 is a uniform smooth cylinder from the top to the bottom of the container and serves as an inner guide for a follower plate 5.
• This is a generally flat annular plate having a continuous horizontal web 51 with a central opening 52 through which the feed tube passes. Its function, as known from earlier disclosures, is to lie on top of the mass of product in the container. As the product level in the container falls the follower plate 5 moves down the container, guided by the feed tube 3, to assure full clearance of material from the container space.
• the central opening 52 has an upwardly-projecting stiff tubular seal construction 54 supporting a downwardly convergent inner flexible sealing lip 55 which bears against the feed tube surface 36.
• the periphery of the plate has a flexible upwardly-divergent sealing lip 56 to bear against the container's inner surface 16.
• the cover/feed tube assembly also includes a pump 8.
• a pump 8 This may take any of a variety of relatively conventional forms, e.g. as shown in our EP-A-765690 where the pump body (cylinder) fits down inside the top of the feed tube.
• the present embodiment is a more sophisticated construction in which the feed tube 3 itself acts as the pump cylinder.
• the active component of the pump is a manually reciprocable plunger 7 having a bottom piston 73 working sealingly in the upper region of the feed tube 3 and a top plunger head 81 with a laterally-directed discharge spout 82 communicating with the pump chamber via a central discharge channel 72 within the plunger itself.
• the pump chamber has an inlet valve to assure unidirectional flow up the feed tube 3.
• the inlet valve 4 is a flap insert 45 supported on an inward flange 44 formed integrally in the interior of the feed tube 3, but other constructions are possible: a ball valve may be used, or the valve construction may be in a discrete pump body component inserted in the feed tube.
• a discharge valve 9 is provided in the discharge channel of the plunger 8 so that product is drawn into the pump chamber as the plunger 8 rises after a pumping stroke.
• the discharge valve 9 may take a variety of forms as is well known, for example a ball or flap valve.
• a flap valve with a flap of resilient material e.g. nitrile rubber which in its rest position is urged with a sealing force against the stiff counter surface.
• the rubber flap is provided as a disc with a central hole, trapped in the enlarged bottom opening of the discharge channel 72 by an insert component which snaps into place.
• Such a valve provides high-efficiency sealing. It also requires an appreciable pressure to open it; greater than that required for the inlet valve 4.
• Dispensing systems of this kind conventionally require a vent arrangement so that air can enter the container to compensate for the volume of product dispensed.
• the venting system must be proof against leaks, however.
• one or more small vent openings 35 are provided through the wall of the feed tube 3 immediately below its locating flange 34. Air can leak into the container through the vent opening ( ⁇ ) 35 from above via a tortuous path through the pump construction.
• a particular feature of the construction is a height limiting abutment in the form of a discrete, annular spacer insert 100 best seen in Fig 2.
• the spacer insert 100 which (like the rest of the pump) may conveniently be moulded in plastics material fits closely (but slidably) around the top of the feed tube 3. It presents a generally flat radial lower surface 101, radially aligned with the upwardly-projecting inner seal construction 54 of the follower plate 5 so that the top of that seal construction makes an engagement around the spacer 100 defining an uppermost limit position for the follower plate 5.
• the upper surface 102 of the insert 100 bears upwardly against the bottom of the locking flange 34 of the feed tube, i.e. effectively up against the bottom of the cover.
• One or more radially-extending vent channels 103 penetrate the spacer 100; in this embodiment they are provided as simple recesses in its upper surface 102.
• the inner surface 105 of the insert 100 which otherwise fits closely against the feed tube, has at its upper portion an annular recess 104 providing a manifold to assure communication of the (circumferentially localised) vent openings 35 in the feed tube 3 with the (circumferentially localised) venting channels 103 in the insert 100.
• the discrete spacer insert 100 is pushed onto the feed tube 3 before the cover cap, pump and feed tube components are put on the container.
• the container having been filled and the follower plate 5 positioned on the material surface in the container (the follower plate may alternatively be put first onto the feed tube) , the feed tube is then pushed down into the container until the cover cap locks onto the container rim.
• displacement by the feed tube requires that the material surface will rise in the container and/or that the material will rise up inside the feed tube.
• the latter tendency is strongly inhibited by the discharge valve 9, which is reluctant to open. The tendency therefore would be for the material surface to rise, lifting the follower plate 5 to the condition shown at the left-hand side of Fig 2.
• the presence of the spacer insert 100 as now proposed forces the follower plate in the assembled condition to adopt the predetermined lower level as seen on the right hand side of Figure 2, with its outer seal properly in contact with the container's inner sealing surface. This enhances contact of the follower plate with the material surface too, so that the follower plate reliably follows the material surface even when there is shrinkage.
• the height (axial size) of the insert can easily be varied in relation to the volume of material filled so that the forced movement of the follower plate 5 to the predetermined level as shown will force an appropriate quantity of material up the feed tube 3 to prime the pump .
• the mechanical height-limiting effect of the spacer insert 100 can be achieved in a number of ways.
• a discrete insert is not strictly necessary.
• the same height- limiting effect can be achieved with integral projections on any of the follower plate, feed tube, pump body and cover, for example.
• the use of a discrete component has the advantage of enabling ready variation of the predetermined level by providing a range of inserts of different axial extent. This helps to control the priming and sealing situation in accordance with the volume and heat expansivity of the material concerned.
• By having an annular engagement with the follower plate 5 tilting of the plate is prevented.
• this effect can be achieved with other kinds of mechnical abutment provided that the engagement is appropriately distributed around the feed tube axis .
• Figs 3 and 4 show details of variants and refinements of the height controlling spacer 100.
• the version shown in Fig 3 corresponds in essence to that shown in Fig 2, with a pair of radially-extending recesses 103 enabling venting from the inside to the outside of the ring passed the bearing surface 102, and an internal manifold recess 104 to assure vent communication.
• the refinement here is that the top and bottom surfaces of the annular spacer are formed identically, as seen to the left of Fig 3, so that the orientation of the spacer does not need to be controlled during assembly.
• the top and bottom bearing surfaces of the spacer are flat and entire.
• the possibility of venting is provided instead by a series of inwardly-directed teeth 109 on the spacer which fit against the feed tube surface and leave a corresponding circumferential series of top-to-bottom clearances 106 between them.

Landscapes

• Closures For Containers (AREA)
• Basic Packing Technique (AREA)
• Electrical Discharge Machining, Electrochemical Machining, And Combined Machining (AREA)
• Paper (AREA)
• Feeding, Discharge, Calcimining, Fusing, And Gas-Generation Devices (AREA)
• Containers And Packaging Bodies Having A Special Means To Remove Contents (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=10835438

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (4)

Family Cites Families (2)

• 1998
  • 1998-07-13 GB GB9815195A patent/GB2335241B/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1999
  • 1999-07-13 DE DE69936345T patent/DE69936345T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-07-13 AT AT99933027T patent/ATE365079T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1999-07-13 WO PCT/GB1999/002248 patent/WO2000002666A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1999-07-13 PT PT99933027T patent/PT1097002E/pt unknown
  • 1999-07-13 EP EP99933027A patent/EP1097002B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-07-13 DK DK99933027T patent/DK1097002T3/da active

Patent Citations (4)

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