WO2004052162A1

WO2004052162A1 - Soap dispenser

Info

Publication number: WO2004052162A1
Application number: PCT/FI2003/000941
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas Icking; Jari Jäpölä
Original assignee: Oras Technology Oy
Priority date: 2002-12-11
Filing date: 2003-12-10
Publication date: 2004-06-24
Also published as: FI20022180A0; EP1583448A1; AU2003285377A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a soap dispenser consisting of a hermetically sealed disposable bottle (1) filled with cleaning liquid and disposed in a dispenser that can be closed with a cover (3) and having a squeezer, by means of which the cleaning agent can be dispensed onto a person’s hands. The squeezer consists of an actuator (5) having e.g. a battery-driven (6) press lever (8) and receiving an actuating impulse e.g. form an infrared eye, which senses a person’s hands that have been put under the dispenser and dispenses a suitable amount of cleaning agent onto the person’s hands.

Description

Soap dispenser

This invention relates to a soap dispenser formed of a hermetically sealed disposable bottle filled with cleaning liquid, the disposable bottle being disposed within a dispenser that can be closed with a cover and comprises a squeezer, by means of which the cleaning liquid can be dispensed onto a person's hands, the squeezer being formed of an actuator having an e.g. battery-operated press lever and receiving an actuating impulse from e.g. an infrared eye, which detects a person's hands that have been put under the dispenser, and dispenses a suitable amount of cleaning agent onto the person's hands.

This is a soap dispenser, in which disposable bottles filled with cleaning agent are used, such as are commonly used in hospitals, for instance. The device operates without being touched. Currently a manual dispenser is used for corresponding hermetically sealed bottles. A manual dispenser provides cleaning liquid in a suitable amount onto one hand of a person, while the person performs the dispensing by actuating a dispensing lever protruding from the device with his other elbow. Dispensers operating without being touched are also available on the market, however, these dispensers do not comprise the cleaning agent in a sterilised package. Practice has shown that dispensing by means of a dispensing lever and a person's elbow results in the dispensed amount being far too small and being dispensed onto one hand alone, which is not always enough for hygienic hand cleaning.

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the shortcomings mentioned above. The soap dispenser of the invention is characterised in the electronics of the soap dispenser being combined with recording of the number of times the dispenser is used, allowing surveillance of the times required in order to maintain an adequate level of hygiene per ward/shift in a hospital, for instance.

Various embodiments of the invention are set forth in the dependent claims of the set of claims.

The invention is explained below by means of an example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which illustrates the cover of the soap dispenser, illustrates a cleaning agent bottle and its valve, illustrates the actuator, illustrates the frame, is a top view of the actuator.

The soap dispenser consists of a disposable bottle 1 filled with cleaning liquid and having a valve 2 at its bottom part. The disposable bottle can be placed in a frame 4 that can be closed with a cover 3 and enclosing an actuator 5. The actuator 5 has a press lever 8 driven by a battery 6 and a motor part 7. The valve of the disposable bottle 1 is placed into an opening 9 in the centre of the actuator 5, with the valve 2 at the end of the disposable bottle being disposed at the press lever 8. The turning lever 10 of the actuator 5 has a plurality of holes 11, allowing staggered adjustment of the squeezing movement of the press lever 8. The electronics of the actuator also allows adjustment of the dispensed amount by means of one, two or more consecutive squeezing movements. The actuator receives an actuating impulse from an infrared eye provided below the dispenser as a person puts his hands under the soap dispenser. When there is no more cleaning agent, the empty disposable bottle 1 is removed and replaced with another bottle.

Claims

1. A soap dispenser consisting of a hermetically sealed disposable bottle (1) filled with cleaning liquid and disposed in a dispenser that can be closed with a cover (3) and having a squeezer, by means of which a person can dispense the cleaning liquid onto his/her hands, the squeezer consisting of an actuator (5) having an e.g. battery- driven (6) press lever (8) and receiving an actuating impulse e.g. from an infrared eye, which detects a person's hands that have been put below the dispenser and dispenses a suitable amount of cleaning agent onto the person's hands, characterised in that the electronics of the soap dispenser has been combined with recording of the number of times the dispenser is used, allowing surveillance of the number of times required in order to attain an adequate level of hygiene per ward shift in a hospital, for instance.

2. A soap dispenser as defined in claim 1, characterised in that the amount of dispensed cleaning liquid can be programmed in compliance with the particular cleaning agent by means of the electronics of the actuator.

3. A soap dispenser as defined in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the squeezing movement of the press lever (8) can be step-wise adjusted by means of apertures

(11) provided in the turning lever (10) of the actuator.

4. A soap dispenser as defined in any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the soap dispenser comprises a frame (4), which can be attached to a wall and contains an actuator (5), the end of the cleaning liquid bottle (1) being inserted into an opening (9) at the centre of the actuator in order to dispose a compressible valve (2) at the end of the cleaning liquid bottle at the press lever (8).