WO2000055099A1

WO2000055099A1 - A lid for a liquid container

Info

Publication number: WO2000055099A1
Application number: PCT/GB2000/001016
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas Robinson
Original assignee: Windmill Holdings Limited
Priority date: 1999-03-17
Filing date: 2000-03-17
Publication date: 2000-09-21
Also published as: GB9906191D0; AU3307400A

Abstract

A lid (10) for a domestic water filter jug (1), comprises a closure plate (19) which is adapted to seat on structure (17) of the lid (10) and which forms the periphery of an aperture (11) in order to close the aperture (11); and a mechanism which is coupled with the closure plate (19) and operable to displace the closure plate (19) from the aperture (11). The mechanism includes an arm (21) which is pivotally mounted on the lid (10) for swinging movement about an axis (23) and which is joined to the closure plate (19) at a location which is spaced from the axis (23). The mechanism also includes springs (33) which act between the arm (21) and the lid (10) so as to urge the closure plate (19) to seat on the structure (17) as the closure plate (19) approaches the structure (17) during its return.

Description

A lid for a Liquid Container

This invention relates to a lid for a liquid container such as a domestic water filter jug, the jug being of the kind which is divided internally into an upper chamber and a lower chamber and which is provided with support means which are operable to support a filter cartridge in a conduit which is provided for flow of water from the upper chamber to the lower chamber, the arrangement being such that water that flows from the upper chamber to the lower chamber is filtered by passage through the filter cartridge. The liquid container could be a coffee maker for example. Such a lid is identified as a lid for a liquid container of the kind referred to in the remainder of this description.

GB-A-2288529 discloses a lid of the kind referred to for a domestic water filter jug which has an aperture formed in it through which water to be filtered is introduced into the upper chamber. The lid is provided with a manually slidable closure plate for closing the aperture to prevent spillage of water from the upper chamber. Although such a manually slidable closure plate is effective for inhibiting spillage of a significant amount of water through the aperture, water can still seep between the closure plate and surrounding structure of the lid so that it is not watertight.

An object of this invention is to provide a more liquidtight closure for an aperture which is formed in a lid of the kind referred to and through which liquid is introduced into the liquid container than would be provided by a manually slidable closure plate.

According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a lid of the kind referred to, which has an aperture formed in it through which liquid is introduced into the liquid container and which is provided with closure means for closing the aperture to prevent spillage of liquid from the liquid container and a mechanism which is coupled with the closure means and operable to displace the closure means from the aperture to open the aperture and to return the closure means into position to re-close the aperture; wherein the closure means comprise a closure plate which is adapted to seat on structure of the lid which forms the periphery of the aperture in order to close the aperture; and the mechanism includes one arm which is pivotally mounted on the lid for swinging movement about an axis which is transverse with respect to the lid, said one arm being joined to said closure plate at a location which is spaced from said axis, and resilient means which act between the arm and the lid so as to urge the closure plate to seat on said structure as the closure plate approaches said structure during its return.

In a preferred embodiment, said periphery is the lower periphery of the aperture.

The arm may be pivotally joined to the closure plate and means may be provided which constrain the closure plate to follow a certain path which is generally transverse to said aperture whereby to limit the extent to which the closure plate depends from the arm below the lid. The constraining means may comprise a cooperating key and keyway, the relatively moveable elements of which are formed respectively on the closure plate and on structure of said lid alongside said structure which forms said aperture. Alternatively, the constraining means may comprise another arm which is similarly mounted pivotally mounted on the lid about another transverse axis and which, together with the lid, the closure plate and said one arm forms a four bar kinematic chain.

The resilient means preferably comprise an over centre spring arrangement which acts to resiliently hold the mechanism when the closure plate is seated on said structure and when it is at a rest position remote from said aperture to which it is displaced to open the aperture .

Where the constraining means comprise a cooperating key and keyway arrangement, the keyway being formed by structure of the lid alongside the structure that forms the aperture, the keyway conveniently extends below but near to the periphery of the aperture on which the closure plate is adapted to seat and forms a substantially linear path below the aperture, which linear path makes a small angle with the plane of the aperture so that the linear path converges with that plane towards an end of the path which is remote from the arm, that path end being a short distance beyond the periphery of the aperture, the arrangement being such that the final closing movement of the closure plate due to the action of said resilient means involves a limited amount of pivotal movement of the closure plate relative to the keyway into seating contact with the periphery of the aperture, such pivotal movement being about the key that is engaged within the keyway.

In addition to the manually slidable closure plate which is carried by the lid, GB-A-2288529 also discloses a display permanently indicating the current state of usage of the filter cartridge, by means of rotary movement relative to the lid of a rotatable member bearing a visible indicator, and a mechanism linking the sliding movement of the closure plate to the rotary movement of the indicator to cause automatic, incremental and unidirectional rotary movement of the indicator relative to the lid in response to the respective sliding movement of the closure plate. The mechanism includes a toothed wheel rotated by engagement of the teeth by a pawl moved when the closure plate moves and a stop member supported by a fixed portion of the lid and also engaging the teeth of the tooth wheel to resist movement of the indicator in the opposite rotational direction to the unidirectional rotary movement. This is a complex mechanism including several components. It is another object of the invention to provide simpler means for visibly indicating the current state of usage of the filter cartridge of a domestic water filter jug fitted with a lid of the kind referred to.

According to another aspect of this invention there is provided a lid of the kind referred which has an aperture formed in it through which water to be filtered is introduced into the upper chamber of a domestic water filter jug to which the lid is fitted when in use and which is provided with closure means for closing the aperture to prevent spillage of water from the upper chamber and a mechanism which is coupled with the closure means and operable to displace the closure means from the aperture to open the aperture and to return the closure means into position to re-close the aperture, wherein switch means are provided, the switch means being operable to sense arrival of a moving element of the mechanism and the closure means at a selected location within the cycle of movement of the closure means to open and close the aperture, the switch means being connected into an electronic counting circuit having read-out means whereby the cycles of displacement of the closure means from and back to the aperture to open and close the aperture are counted and the computed number is indicated visibly by the indicator means.

Two forms of lid for a domestic water filter jug of the kind referred to will be described now by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings of whic : -

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a water filter jug;

Figure 2 is a sectioned side of view of a fragment of the lid showing the aperture and one form of closure plate and mechanism for displacing the closure plate to one side of the aperture;

Figure 3 is a partly sectioned end view of the fragment shown in Figure 2 as seen in the direction of arrow A of Figure 2 ;

Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating operation of the mechanism shown in Figures 2 and 3;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 2 of another form of closure plate and displacement mechanism showing the closure plate displaced from the aperture and the aperture open to allow filling of the upper compartment of the water filter jug; and

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 showing the closure plate seated to close the aperture.

Figure 1 shows a water filter jug which has a jug portion 1 and an removable internal hopper 2 which together define an upper and a lower compartment 3 and 4 respectively. The hopper 2 carries a water filter cartridge 5, so that when in use unfiltered water is poured into the upper compartment 3, and flows therefrom through the cartridge 5, where it is filtered and purified, and into the lower compartment 4. This kind of jug is well known in the art and need not be described further.

Figures 2 and 3 show the part of a lid 10 for a domestic water filter jug which forms an aperture 11 through which water to be filtered is poured through the lid 10 into the upper compartment of the filter jug which is closed by the lid 10. The lid 10 is hollow having upper and lower walls. The jug would be formed with a spout and a handle opposite the spout. The lid 10 is designed so that the aperture 11 would be nearer to the spout than it is to the handle when the lid 10 is fitted to the jug. The upper wall of the lid 10 is stepped. Figure 2 shows that the edge of the aperture 11 that would be nearer to the handle is coincident with the step 12. A rotary knob 13 is mounted on the top of the higher portion 14 of the stepped upper wall and is rotatable about an axis 15 which is normal to the higher wall portion 14.

The aperture 11 is formed by a hole in the lower portion 16 of the stepped upper wall and by a short tubular portion 17 which depends from the underside of the lower stepped wall portion 16 around the hole. The bottom of the tubular portion 17 lies in a plane which is at an acute angle to the lower stepped wall portion 16, that plane sloping upwardly towards the end of the lid that would be adjacent the handle when the lid 10 is in place on the jug. Apertures (not shown) in the lower wall 18 of the lid 10 allow water that is poured through the aperture 11 to pass freely through the lower wall 18.

A closure plate 19 is provided to seat on the bottom of the tubular portion 17 to close the aperture 11. The closure plate 19 is suspended from the upper wall of the lid by two pairs of arms 21 and 22. The arms 21 and 22 of each pair are pivotally mounted on the underside of the upper wall of the lid 10 about respective common axes 23 and 24 which are transverse with respect to the lid 10. The other ends of the arms 21 and 22 are pivotally connected to the closure plate 19. The pivot connections to the closure plate 19 of the pair of arms 21 are substantially coaxial and are spaced from the substantially coaxial pivot connections of the arms 22 to the closure plate 19.

Hence the upper wall of the lid 10, the closure plate 19 and the pairs of arms 21 and 22 form a four bar kinematic chain. Figure 3 shows that the pivot mountings 25 for the pair of arms 21 are on either side of the tubular portion 17.

The pivot mounting by which each of the arms 22 is pivotally mounted to the underside of the higher upper wall portion 14 is provided by a bevel gear 26 which is fixed to an end of an axle 27 which carries the arms 22 and which is journalled in a pair of spaced supports 28 which depend from the higher upper wall portion 14. The bevel gear 26 meshes with another bevel gear 29 which is carried by a shaft 30 which depends from the rotary knob 13 with which it is coaxial .

Each arm 21 has a lateral pin 31 which is received within a C-shaped journal bearing 32 fitted to the upper end of an over centre spring 33, the lower end of the over centre spring 33 being anchored in a seat 34 formed in the lower wall 18 of the lid 10. The lateral pin 31 is near to the pivot mounting 25 by which the respective arm 21 is pivotally mounted on the lower portion 16 of the stepped upper wall.

Figure 2 shows the closure plate 19 displaced to one side of the aperture 11 where it is under the rotary knob 13. The rotary knob 13 is turned in order to seat the closure plate 19. Turning of the rotary knob 13 turns the bevel gear 29 which meshes with the bevel gear 26 to rotate the arms 22 in a clockwise direction as seen in Figure 2. That movement causes the other pair of rotary arms 21 to swing, such movement initially causing compression of the over centre springs 33 until the arms 21 and 22 have swung through the vertical and carried the closure plate 19 up towards the lower edge of the tubular structure 17 whereupon the over centre springs 33 will expand to urge the arms 21 and, through the arms 21, the closure plate 19 to seat the closure plate 19 on the annular seat formed by the underside of the tubular portion 17. The over centre springs 33 act to lock the closure plate 19 seated in that position. In order to open the aperture 11, the rotary knob 13 is turned so as to reverse the movement, the closure plate 19 being carried by the swinging arms 21 and 22 to one side of the tubular portion 17 where it, the closure plate 19, is below the rotary knob 13. Again, the over centre springs 33 act to lock the closure plate 19 in position displaced to one side of the tubular portion 17 and under the rotary knob 13. The swinging movement of the closure plate 19 and the arms 21 and 22 is illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 4. The lower wall 18 is apertured to allow unobstructed swinging movement of the arms 21 and 22 and the closure plate 19.

Figures 5 and 6 show an alternative mechanism for displacing the closure plate 19A from its position seated on the underside of the aperture 11 to one side of the tubular portion 17 where it is located under the rotary knob 13A. Parts of the lid shown in Figures 5 and 6 which are the same as corresponding parts of the lid described above with reference to and illustrated in Figures 2 to 4 are given the same reference character and similar parts are identified with the same character plus "A" .

The principal difference between the lid illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 when compared with the lid shown in Figures 2 to 4 , is that there is only one pair of arms, namely the arms 22A which are below the rotary knob 13A and to which rotary movement is transmitted from the rotary knob 13A through the meshing bevel gears 26 and 29A. In this embodiment the gear 29A is formed on the underside of the knob 13A. The closure plate 19A carries opposed laterally projecting pins or keys at a location remote from the pivot connection with the arms 22A. Each of these keys slides in a respective groove 35 which is formed in structure of the lid 10 which is upstanding from the lower wall 18 on either side of the tubular portion 17. The grooves 35 run generally from under the rotary knob 13A to the other side of tubular portion 17 which is nearer to the spout when the lid is fitted to the jug. The grooves 35 serve as keyways along which the pins or keys slide with rotary movement of the swinging arms 22A and thereby constrain movement of the closure plate 19A with swinging movement of the arms 22A so as to limit the extent to which the closure plate 19A depends into the interior of the jug. The pins or keys are constrained by a major part of the respective groove 35 to follow a path which makes a slight angle with the plane of the underside of the tubular portion 17. The underside of the tubular portion 17 and the major portion of the grooves 35 leading to the end remote from the arms 22A converge towards the plane of the underside of the tubular portion 17 at that end of the grooves 35 remote from the swinging arms 22A. The other end of each of the grooves 35, which is below the rotary knob 13A, is acruate and curves up towards the rotary knob 13A. An over centre spring 33A links a respective pin 36 which projects laterally from each of the arms 22A at a point thereon intermediate the ends of that arm 22A to structure of the lid 10 at a location which is above the transverse axis 24 about which the arms 22A swing.

In operation, starting from the open condition shown in Figure 5, rotation of the rotary knob 13A is transmitted through the meshing bevel gears 26 and 29A to cause swinging of the arms 22A in a clockwise sense as shown in Figure 5. That movement causes the remote end of the closure plate 19A to be translated under the tubular portion 17, its pins sliding in the guideways 35. This continues until the pins have traversed along the slots 35 to just beyond the depending tubular portion 17 whereupon the action of the over centre springs 33A will cause the final movement of the swinging arms 22A to be upwards so as to bring the closure plate 19A into seating engagement with the underside of tubular portion 17, that final movement comprising pivotal movement of the closure plate 19A about its pins engaged in the end of the guide slots 35.

In order to open the aperture, starting from the position shown in Figure 6, the rotary knob 13A is rotated in the appropriate direction, such rotary movement being transmitted to the arms 22A through the engaged bevel gears 26 and 29A so as to impart anticlockwise movement to the swinging arms 22A as shown in Figure 6. The closure plate 19A is dragged by the swinging arms 22A from the closed position to the right as seen in Figure 6 into the position shown in Figure 5 where it is locked by the action of the over centre springs 33A.

A proximity switch (not shown) is preferably provided in either of the two embodiments of lid 10 described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 5 shows that the switch 41 is positioned so as to coact with the arm 22A in order to sense each cycle of displacement of the closure plate 19, 19A from and back to the aperture 11 to open and close the aperture 11. Another moving part of the lid 10 which may be either one of the arms 21, 22, or even the closure plate 19, 19A itself may be used instead of the arm 22A. The proximity switch 41 may be of either the contact or non-contact type. A magnetic proximity switch is preferred.

The proximity switch 41 is connected into an electronic counting circuit 42 having read-out means 43 whereby the cycles of displacement of the closure plate 19, 19A from and back to the aperture 11 are counted. The read-out means 43 are positioned on the lid 10 so as to be visible to a user of the water filter jug.

Claims

1. A lid (10) for a liquid container such as a domestic water filter jug (1), the jug (1) being of the kind which is divided internally into an upper chamber (3) and a lower chamber (4) and which is provided with support means (2) which are operable to support a filter cartridge (5) in a conduit which is provided for flow of water from the upper chamber (3) to the lower chamber (4), the arrangement being such that water that flows from the upper chamber (3) to the lower chamber (4) is filtered by passage through the filter cartridge (5), the lid (10) having an aperture (11) formed in it through which liquid is introduced into the liquid container and which is provided with closure means for closing the aperture (11) to prevent spillage of liquid from the liquid container and a mechanism which is coupled with the closure means and operable to displace the closure means from the aperture (11) to open the aperture (11) and to return the closure means into position to re- close the aperture (11); characterised in that the closure means comprise a closure plate (19) which is adapted to seat on structure (17) of the lid (10) which forms the periphery of the aperture (11) in order to close the aperture (11); and the mechanism includes one arm (21 or 22A) which is pivotally mounted on the lid (10) for swinging movement about an axis (23) which is transverse with respect to the lid (10), said one arm (21 or 22A) being joined to said closure plate (19) at a location which is spaced from said axis (23), and resilient means which act between the arm (21 or 22A) and the lid (10) so as to urge the closure plate (19) to seat on said structure (17) as the closure plate (19) approaches said structure (17) during its return.

2. A lid (10) according to claim 1, wherein said periphery is the lower periphery of the aperture (11).

3. A lid (10) according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the arm (21 or 22A) is pivotally joined to the closure plate (19) and means are provided which constrain the closure plate (19) to follow a certain path which is generally transverse to said aperture

(11) whereby to limit the extent to which the closure plate (19) depends from the arm (21 or 22A) below the lid (10).

4. A lid (10) according to claim 3, wherein the constraining means comprise a cooperating key and keyway (35), the relatively moveable elements of which are formed respectively on the closure plate (19) and on structure of said lid (10) alongside said structure (17) which forms said aperture (11).

5. A lid (10) according to claim 3, wherein the constraining means comprise another arm (22) which is similarly pivotally mounted on the lid (10) about another transverse axis (24) and which, together with the lid (10), the closure plate (19) and said one arm (21) forms a four bar kinematic chain.

6. A lid (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the resilient means comprise an over centre spring arrangement (31,32,33,34; or 33A) which acts to resiliently hold the mechanism when the closure plate (19) is seated on said structure (17) and when it is at a rest position remote from said aperture (11) to which it is displaced to open the aperture (11).

7. A lid according to claim 4 or claim 6 when appended to claim 4, wherein the keyway (35) is formed by structure of the lid (10) alongside the structure (17) that forms the aperture (11).

8. A lid (10) according to claim 7, wherein the keyway (35) extends below but near to the periphery of the aperture (11) on which the closure plate (19) is adapted to seat and forms a substantially linear path below the aperture (11), which linear path makes a small angle with the plane of the aperture (11) so that the linear path converges with that plane towards an end of the path which is remote from the arm (22A), that path end being a short distance beyond the periphery of the aperture (11), the arrangement being such that the final closing movement of the closure plate (19) due to the action of said resilient means (33A) involves a limited amount of pivotal movement of the closure plate (19) relative to the keyway (35) into seating contact with the periphery of the aperture (11), such pivotal movement being about the key that is engaged within the keyway (35).

9. A lid (10) for a liquid container such as a domestic water filter jug (1), the jug (1) being of the kind which is divided internally into an upper chamber (3) and a lower chamber (4) and which is provided with support means (2) which are operable to support a filter cartridge (5) in a conduit which is provided for flow of water from the upper chamber (3) to the lower chamber (4), the arrangement being such that water that flows from the upper chamber (3) to the lower chamber (4) is filtered by passage through the filter cartridge (5), wherein the lid (10) has an aperture (11) formed in it through which water to be filtered is introduced into the upper chamber (3) of a domestic water filter jug (1) to which the lid (10) is fitted when in use and which is provided with closure means for closing the aperture (11) to prevent spillage of water from the upper chamber (3) and a mechanism which is coupled with the closure means and operable to displace the closure means from the aperture (11) to open the aperture (11) and to return the closure means into position to re-close the aperture (11), characterised in that switch means (41) are provided, the switch means 41 being operable to sense arrival of a moving element 22A of the mechanism and the closure means at a selected location within the cycle of movement of the closure means to open and close the aperture (11), the switch means (41) being connected into an electronic counting circuit (42) having read-out means (43) whereby the cycles of displacement of the closure means from and back to the aperture (11) to open and close the aperture (11) are counted and the computed number is indicated visibly by the read-out means (43)