WO2002076853A1

WO2002076853A1 - Fluid product dispenser

Info

Publication number: WO2002076853A1
Application number: PCT/FR2002/000922
Authority: WO
Inventors: Franck Plessis
Original assignee: Valois S.A.S.
Priority date: 2001-03-22
Filing date: 2002-03-15
Publication date: 2002-10-03
Also published as: BR0208216A; FR2822452B1; FR2822452A1; EP1370477B1; CN1498186A; CN1228221C; JP2004524233A; ES2266475T3; EP1370477A1; DE60212587D1; DE60212587T2

Abstract

The invention concerns a fluid product dispenser comprising: a container (1) designed to contain the fluid product, said container forming an opening (10) defining a inner wall (11), said inner wall (11) forming a shrunk opening section (13) beneath which the wall (11) is recessed at least locally outwards to form a recessed opening section (14); a dispensing member (2), such as a pump or a valve comprising a body (20); a fixing ring (3) to fix the body (20) of the dispensing member (2) in the opening (10) of the container (1), said ring (3) including receiving means (31) to receive said body (20) and a fixing skirt (32) designed to be press-fitted into said opening (10), said skirt (32) including an outer wall (320) defining a first zone (321) urged to be arranged at the shrunk opening section (13) and a second zone (322) urged to be arranged at the recessed opening section (14), when the skirt (32) is fitted right into the opening (10). The invention is characterised in that the first zone (321) has, prior to the skirt being fitted into the opening, an external diameter greater than the internal diameter of the shrunk opening section (13).

Description

Fluid dispenser

The present invention relates to a fluid dispenser comprising a container, a dispensing member such as a pump or a valve and a fixing ring for fixing the dispensing member to the container. Such dispensers are frequently used in the field of perfumery, cosmetics or even pharmacy to dispense fluid products by manual support using a finger on a pusher.

The present invention relates more particularly to a type of container forming an opening defining an internal wall which forms a narrowed opening section below which the wall is hollowed out at least locally outwards to form a lower section d opening. As for the fixing ring, this comprises receiving means for receiving the body of the dispensing member and a fixing skirt intended to be force fitted into said opening. The skirt comprises an external wall defining a first zone coming to be placed at the level of the narrowed opening section and a second zone coming to be placed at the level of the opening section hollowed out when the skirt is fitted fully into the opening of the container. A dispenser comprising such a fixing ring is known from document US 3,937,366. In this document, the internal wall of the container neck comprises a peripheral groove into which a rib formed on the external wall of the skirt is snapped. The part of the skirt situated just above the rib has a diameter smaller than that of the rib, even when the skirt is not yet fitted into the neck of the container. We can say that the external profile of the skirt is perfectly complementary to the internal profile of the container neck. Similarly, the shape of the groove in the inner wall of the neck is exactly complementary to the shape of the rib of the skirt. Thus, there is no tight radial contact between the skirt and the inner wall of the neck, but just a snap of the rib in the groove of the neck. The tightness between the skirt and the collar is thus only very difficult to ensure. It is the same for the fixing system described in the document FR-

2,792,295. This system uses a ring on which a pump or a valve. This ring also cooperates with the internal wall of a container neck which has a narrowed opening section below which extends a hollowed out opening section. The ring is also formed with a skirt intended to engage inside the neck. This skirt has an external radial projection intended to be housed in the recessed opening section which is here in the form of a simple peripheral recess formed inside the internal wall of the neck. This is a snap system which consists in engaging the external projection of the skirt of the ring in the internal recess of the neck. Above the external projection, the skirt defines a section of smaller diameter which is received at the level of the narrowed opening section formed just above the internal recess of the neck. However, it is not visible in the figures of this document that the outer diameter of the section of the skirt located at the narrowed opening section of the neck has a diameter less than the latter. This is also not described in the text of this document. Moreover, in the text of this document as well as in the claims, it is clearly defined that the fixing member comprises latching means capable of being housed in said recess of the internal wall of the neck; in this case, these latching means are formed by the external projection in the embodiment of Figure 3. The present invention seeks to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by defining a fixing ring which achieves both a solid fixing and a perfect seal.

To achieve this object, the present invention proposes that the first zone of the skirt has, before fitting the skirt into the opening, an external diameter greater than the internal diameter of the narrowed opening section. This is not the case in document US 3,937,366 in which the first zone of the skirt has a diameter strictly equal to that of the neck at the level of its opening. Advantageously, the narrowed opening section is substantially non-deformable and the first zone is deformable on the narrowed opening section. By thus choosing a skirt diameter greater than that of the narrowed opening section, the skirt is deformed by material creep, so that the section narrowed opening bites into the outer wall of the skirt, thus ensuring a solid fixing and a perfect seal. The radial deformation of the first zone towards the inside generates a powerful radial clamping against the narrowed opening section of the opening. According to another characteristic, the second zone has an external diameter greater than the internal diameter of the narrowed opening section and less than the maximum internal diameter of the hollowed out opening section. The second zone, which has been forced radially inward during the passage of the narrowed opening section, can thus relax freely by radial expansion outwards at the level of the hollowed out opening section. Since the second zone is not in contact with the internal wall of the neck at the level of the recessed opening section, this facilitates the flow of material from the first zone towards the second zone due to the interference created by the narrowed opening section biting into the first area. According to another aspect of the invention, the skirt is spaced from the body by an intermediate space. Thus, the deformation of the skirt can in no case cause a deformation of the body of the dispensing member.

Advantageously, the ring comprises a peripheral flange which extends radially outwards from the upper end of the skirt and which is intended to come into abutment contact on the opening of the container to limit the depth of fitting. of the skirt in the opening.

Preferably, the flange serves as a thrust transfer member for fitting the skirt into the opening.

According to another aspect of the invention, the narrowed opening section is connected downwards to the opening section hollowed out by a substantially frustoconical or flared transition section. Thus, the outer wall of the skirt cooperates after fitting the skirt into the opening with the narrowed opening section and the transition section to improve the fixing and sealing.

As a variant or in addition, the narrowed opening section extends upwards with a substantially frustoconical or flared attack section.

Thus, the external wall of the skirt, after fitting the skirt into the opening, can cooperate with the narrowed opening section and the driving section to improve fixing and sealing.

According to a practical embodiment, the external wall of the skirt, before fitting in, is cylindrical and has a constant external diameter at the level of the first and second zones. Advantageously, the skirt has a free chamfered lower end to facilitate its insertion into the opening of the container.

The invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings which give an embodiment of the invention by way of non-limiting example. In the figures:

FIG. 1 is a cross-section view through a fluid dispenser according to the invention, just before the ring is fitted into the container opening,

FIG. 2 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1 with the ring fitted into the opening of the container, and

- Figure 3 is an enlarged view of a detail of the ring showing the cooperation of the skirt with the opening.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, only the upper part of a fluid dispenser according to the invention has been shown, so that the container is only represented by its neck 10. However, the dispenser of the The invention comprises three constituent elements, namely a container 1, a dispensing member 2 and a fixing ring 3.

The container 1 is here provided with a neck 10 which projects upwards from the body of the container, the function of which is to store fluid product. The neck 10 defines an opening which makes it possible to communicate inside the container. One can however imagine other embodiments for the container, in which there is no protruding neck, but simply an opening in the body of the container. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, one can for example imagine that the end portion of the neck 10 is located directly at the shoulder 110. We can then speak of opening without neck. The protruding neck is therefore not an essential element in the present invention. It is enough that there is an opening with certain characteristics. Among these characteristics, it can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 that the neck 10 comprises an internal wall 11 which is not cylindrical, but on the contrary has a narrowed opening section 13 below which is defined a section of recessed opening 14. The narrowed opening section 13 is located near the outlet of the neck which forms an upper end 12 of annular shape at this location. Advantageously, the narrowed opening section 13 is connected to the upper end 12 by a tapered or flared attack section 15. On the other hand, the narrowed opening section 13 is connected to the hollowed opening section 14 by a frustoconical or flared transition section 16. The narrowed opening section 13 can be substantially cylindrical. The recessed opening section 14 can also be of substantially cylindrical section. One can imagine that the recessed opening section 14 is in the form of a peripheral recess which extends over a certain height of the neck, which is extended downwards by another section of diameter substantially equal to that of the narrowed opening section 13. One can also imagine that the hollowed out opening section is in the form of a plurality of recesses distributed over the internal periphery of the neck. In other words, whatever the shape of the recessed opening section 14, it must at least locally have an internal diameter greater than that of the narrowed opening section 13. In the embodiment of the Figures, the narrowed opening section 13 is cylindrical, and the recessed opening section 14 extends downward from the narrowed opening section 13 starting with the flared transition section 16. It can be considered that the flared transition section 16 is part of the recessed opening section 14 since its diameter is less than that of the narrowed opening section 13. The recessed opening section 14 then extends downward to connect to the shoulder 110. It can of course be imagined that there is no transition section 16 and that the recessed opening section 14 is connected to the narrowed opening section 13 by a sharp angle shoulder. In this case, it is not necessary to have a collar which extends over a certain height, and such opening with a narrowed section and a hollowed out section can be produced at the level of the shoulder 110.

The dispensing member 2, which is here a pump or a valve, comprises a pump body 20 defining at its upper end a flange 21 which projects outwards. Below this flange, the pump body defines a body part 201 below which a second body part 202 of smaller diameter is connected so that between the two body parts 201 and 202 there is a transition 203 in the form of a frustoconical step, as can be seen more clearly in FIG. 3. Below the second body part 202, the body 20 defines another body part which also has a smaller diameter. We can say that the body 20 is four stages, since it comprises four parts of the body decreasing in diameter from the flange 21. This is only a particular embodiment, and one can of course imagine a perfectly cylindrical body 20. Conventionally, the pump 2 comprises an actuating rod 22 which slides inside the body 20. This actuating rod 22 is surmounted by a pusher 23 defining a dispensing orifice 230. To actuate the pump 2, it suffices to press the pusher 23 to push the rod 22 into the body 20 which has the effect of pushing a dose of product through the rod 22 to the dispensing orifice 230. This is d 'a completely classic pump or valve.

The purpose of the fixing ring 3 is to hold the dispensing member 2 and to fix it in the opening of the neck 10. The fixing ring 3 therefore comprises reception means 31 in the form of a sleeve which is engaged with friction on the first body part 201 of larger diameter. The end of the sleeve 31 advantageously bears under the protruding flange 21. The positioning of the ring 3 on the body 20 of the pump 2 can be achieved by force fitting. The fixing ring 3 also comprises a fixing skirt 32 intended to be inserted inside the neck 10. This skirt 32 extends substantially in the extension of the sleeve 31. It can be seen in FIG. 3 that the skirt 31 n is not in contact with the body 20 at the second body part 202, but that there remains a space intermediate 34 which prevents any contact or interference of the skirt 32 on the body 20. This is possible because the body 20 is tiered, but the same intermediate space 34 could have been obtained by staggering the skirt relative to the sleeve 31. The skirt has an external wall 320 which is substantially cylindrical before fitting the skirt 32 into the neck 10, as can be seen in FIG. 1. At its lower end, the skirt can be formed with a chamfer 323 which makes it easier to insertion of the skirt into the opening of the neck 10. However, above the chamfer 323, the external wall 320 of the skirt is substantially cylindrical. According to the invention, the external diameter of the skirt 32 at its cylindrical external wall 320 is greater than the internal diameter of the narrowed opening section 13. Thus, to put the skirt 32 in place in the opening of the neck, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, it is necessary to press it in force. To limit the depth of fitting of the skirt in the opening of the neck, the ring 3 comprises a peripheral flange 33 which extends radially outwards from the upper end of the skirt 32. The final position d maximum engagement is reached when the flange 33 is supported on the upper end 12 of the neck 10 as can be seen in Figures 2 and 3. The skirt 32 then extends both at the opening section narrowed 13 and of the recessed opening section 14. More precisely, the skirt 32 also extends at the level of the leading section 15 and the transition section 16. Two zones of the external wall 320 can be roughly defined of the skirt 32, namely a first zone 321 which is placed at the level of the narrowed opening section 13 and a second zone 322 which is placed at the level of the recessed opening section 14. Before fitting, these zones are not differentiable, as we can see in Figure 1, since the outer wall 320 of the skirt 32 is cylindrical. It can be seen in FIG. 3, that the first zone 321 is deformed radially inwards by the narrowed opening section 13, while the second zone 322 remains undeformed, since it is not in contact with the internal wall 11 of the neck at the level of the recessed opening section 14. The skirt 32, at the level of the first zone 321, has therefore underwent deformation by material creep. To allow this material flow, it is necessary that the narrowed opening section 13 remains undeformed when the skirt 32 is fitted into the neck opening. In practice, this can be achieved by using materials of different hardness for the neck and the fixing ring. For example, the container 1 can be made of glass, and the fixing ring 3 of plastic. However, it is also possible to produce the container 1 and the fixing ring 3 with the same material: the deformability characteristics of the skirt 32 can then be obtained by its design or its wall thickness, for example. Better deformation of the first zone can also be obtained by a limited height of the narrowed opening section. This can even be reduced to a kind of cord or edge which comes to bite in the first zone of the skirt.

It can be noted that the external wall 320 of the skirt 32 also comes into contact with the leading section 15 and the transition section 16. This contributes to the fixing of the skirt in the opening by a spear-phoning phenomenon while being serving as the narrowed opening section as an incident profile. This is not a click-in here, since the skirt does not originally have, that is to say before fitting, no housing intended to receive the narrowed opening section 13. It may also be noted that the sealing is significantly improved with such a skirt, since the radial tightening at the level of the first zone 321 is very strong, and in any case much greater than a fixing by simple snap-fastening as in document US Pat. No. 3,937,366 prior.

The outer wall 320 of the skirt 32 has been shown here in a perfectly cylindrical manner. One can however imagine other shapes for the external wall 320 of the skirt 32, for example a stage, with the external diameter of the second zone 322 having a diameter greater or less than that of the first zone 321. The spirit of the invention lies in the fact that the skirt 32, before fitting into the opening of the neck, has a diameter greater than that of the narrowed opening section 13 so as to force the skirt to creep around the narrowed opening section 13.

Claims

claims

1.- Fluid product distributor comprising:

- a container (1) intended to contain the fluid product, said container forming an opening (10) defining an internal wall (11), said internal wall (11) forming a narrowed opening section

(13) below which the wall (11) is hollowed out at least locally towards the outside to form a hollowed out opening section (14),

a distribution member (2), such as a pump or a valve, comprising a body (20),

- a fixing ring (3) for fixing the body (20) of the dispensing member (2) in the opening (10) of the container (1), said ring (3) comprising receiving means (31) to receive said body (20) and a fixing skirt (32) intended to be force fitted into said opening (10), said skirt (32) comprising an external wall (320) defining a first zone (321) which is placed at the narrowed opening section (13) and a second zone (322) which is placed at the level of the recessed opening section (14), when the skirt (32) is fitted fully into the opening ( 10), characterized in that the first zone (321) has, before the skirt is fitted into the opening, an external diameter greater than the internal diameter of the narrowed opening section (13).

2. A dispenser according to claim 1, in which the narrowed opening section (13) is substantially non-deformable and the first zone

(321) is deformable on the narrowed opening section (13).

3. A dispenser according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second zone (322) has an external diameter greater than the internal diameter of the narrowed opening section (13) and less than the maximum internal diameter of the hollowed out opening section .

4. A dispenser according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the skirt (32) is spaced from the body (20) by an intermediate space (34).

5. A dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the ring (3) comprises a peripheral flange (33) which extends radially outwards from the upper end of the skirt (32) and which is intended to come into abutment contact on the opening (10) of the container (1) to limit the depth of fitting of the skirt in the opening.

6. A dispenser according to claim 5, wherein the flange (33) serves as a thrust transfer member for fitting the skirt into the opening.

7. Dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the narrowed opening section (13) is connected downwards to the hollowed out opening section (14) by a substantially frustoconical or flared transition section (16). ).

8. A dispenser according to claim 7, wherein the outer wall

(320) of the skirt (32) cooperates, after fitting the skirt into the opening, with the narrowed opening section (13) and the transition section (16).

9. Dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the narrowed opening section (13) extends upwards with a substantially frustoconical or flared attack section (15).

10. A dispenser according to claim 9, wherein the outer wall

(320) of the skirt (32), after fitting the skirt into the opening, cooperates with the narrowed opening section (13) and the leading section (15).

11. Distributor according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the external wall (320) of the skirt (32), before fitting, is cylindrical and has a constant external diameter at the level of the first and second zones (321, 322 ).

12. Dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the skirt (32) has a free lower end. chamfered (323) to facilitate its insertion into the opening (10) of the container (1).

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