WO2016116691A1

WO2016116691A1 - Device for projecting a filling

Info

Publication number: WO2016116691A1
Application number: PCT/FR2016/050094
Authority: WO
Inventors: Emmanuel OGER
Original assignee: Toke
Priority date: 2015-01-19
Filing date: 2016-01-19
Publication date: 2016-07-28
Also published as: FR3031681B1; FR3031681A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device (1) for expelling a filling (2), comprising a rigid hollow body (3), a piston (10) arranged in the hollow body (3) in such a way as to delimit an upper chamber (14) for storing the filling (2) and a lower chamber (13), a mechanism for actuating the expulsion of the filling out of the hollow body by movement of the piston (10) inside the upper chamber (14), the mechanism being housed in the lower chamber (13), characterised in that the actuating mechanism is arranged in an independent casing comprising a protective shell closed by a cover constituted by the piston.

Description

DEVICE FOR PROJECTING A TRIM

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[001] The invention relates to a bursting splash projection device intended to be used during festive events.

The invention relates more particularly to a device for expelling a lining comprising a rigid hollow body, a piston arranged in the hollow body so as to define an upper chamber for storing the lining and a lower chamber, and a mechanism for actuating the liner. Expulsion of the seal outside the hollow body by displacement of the piston inside the upper chamber, the mechanism being housed in the lower chamber.

[003] The term "garnishes", sweets, chocolate, confetti or any festive light item.

STATE OF THE ART

[004] A large number of devices of this type are known from the state of the art. Three categories of devices may be listed according to the actuating mechanism used to project the linings. Thus, there are pyrotechnic devices, spring devices and compressed air devices. One example is FR403986, which relates to an explosive object with sugar and chocolate surprises, as well as the application WO200112286 and the patent US6572435, which relate to devices for throwing confetti or the like.

The devices of the prior art, however, have several disadvantages. In particular, the establishment of the actuating mechanisms in the bodies receiving the liner remains relatively uncomfortable, especially with regard to the spring devices, and also requires significant handling of the body. However, such manipulations can be difficult, especially when the hollow body in which the liner is placed is made of food materials such as chocolate. In addition, the use of pyrotechnics remains relatively dangerous, and altogether inappropriate when this technique is implemented to break hollow bodies to be consumed. In addition, the pyrotechnic devices and compressed air of the state of the art can not be activated remotely. They are also used [006] The invention aims to remedy these problems by providing a simple, reusable trim projection device and to limit the necessary manipulations of the body storing the gasket during the introduction of the projection actuating mechanism. [007] The invention also aims to provide a remotely activatable device.

[008] The invention also aims to propose a customizable device.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

[009] For this purpose, and according to a first aspect, the invention provides a device for expelling a lining comprising a rigid hollow body, a piston arranged in the hollow body so as to delimit an upper chamber to store the lining and a chamber lower, and a mechanism for actuating the expulsion of the seal outside the hollow body by displacement of the piston inside the upper chamber, the mechanism being housed in the lower chamber, the device being remarkable in that the mechanism of actuation is disposed in an independent housing comprising a protective shell closed by a lid constituted by the piston.

Advantageously, the actuation mechanism comprises a radio frequency receiver adapted to receive signals from an external control system. The mechanism can thus be advantageously activated remotely. It can also be provided that the actuating mechanism can be triggered manually such as for example using wire, push button, etc.

Advantageously, the device comprises a QR code adapted to be read by an external control system, and in particular the control system for triggering the actuation of the piston for the expulsion of the liner.

Advantageously, the device comprises a memory for storing message or personalized sound effect and a speaker for broadcasting the message or sound effect.

Advantageously, the hollow body having a wall in whole or part breakable.

In order to facilitate the fragmentation of the hollow body, the inner wall of the latter is advantageously provided with grooves forming predefined breaking zones.

According to a particularly advantageous configuration, the piston is provided with thrust elements arranged with the wall of the hollow body so as to exert, during movement of the piston in the upper chamber, a pressure on said wall to break the wall hollow body.

According to a particular embodiment, the actuating mechanism comprises springs connecting the cover to the wall of the protective shell.

Advantageously, the hollow body is made of one or more food material (s). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 shows a schematic view of a projection device according to a particular embodiment of the invention; - Figure 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the device of Figure 1;

FIGS. 3A to 3D show the implementation steps of the device of FIG. 1;

- Figure 4 shows an exploded view of the actuating mechanism according to another embodiment;

- Figure 5 shows a bottom view of the mechanism of Figure 4 without the bottom wall of the housing, the piston being in the armed position;

- Figure 6 shows a bottom view of the mechanism of Figure 4 without the bottom wall of the housing, the piston being in the released position;

- Figure 7 shows an exploded view of the actuating mechanism according to another embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In connection with Figures 1 and 2, there is described a device 1 for propelling a gasket 2. The device 1 is formed of a rigid hollow body 3 in which the gasket 2 to be propelled is stored. In the illustrated embodiment, the hollow body 3 has a stylized form of cock. It is made of three hollow parts molded separately: a lower body 30, an upper body 31 and a head 32. The tail 4, the crest 5 and the barbillon 6 reported on the body are made of chocolate or confectionery. They are preferably full.

The hollow body 3 is made of a material capable of being broken under the action of a given pressure or shock. It is preferably made of a food material such as chocolate. The filling 2 is preferably composed of food products, such as confectionery, chocolate or the like.

In order to facilitate the fragmentation of the hollow body 3, the latter comprises an inner wall advantageously provided with grooves 7 forming break zones (weakened zone). The device 1 further comprises a housing 8 in which is housed the mechanism actuating the breaking of the hollow body 3 and the expulsion of the gasket 2 outside said body.

The housing 8 is composed of a protective shell 9 having the shape of a half-roller closed by a cover 10. The cover 10 is held in closed position on the protective shell 9 by return means 11 in compression. The housing 8 further comprises an intermediate piece composed of two sets of cams acting as trigger (not shown). The device 1 further comprises an electromagnetic element 12 and an electronic card for controlling the electromagnetic element. In the illustrated embodiment (FIG. 2), the return means 11 comprise two return springs 11A, 11B disposed on either side of the electromagnetic element 12. The springs 11A, 11B connect the cover 10 to the bottom of the protective shell. As will be seen below, under the action of the springs 11A and 11B, the cover 10 is able to pass from the closed position on the protective shell 9 to a position spaced from the protective shell 9, the separated position characterizing the position in which the liner is ejected. The lid 10 thus plays the role of piston.

The protective shell 9 is sized to fit into the lower body 30 of the hollow body 3 with a small clearance between the inner side wall of the hollow body 3 and the outer side wall of the housing 8. This thus prevents any movement of the housing 8 in the lower body 30 and thus any risk of rupture of the lower body 30 during handling of the device 1. The housing 8 thus constitutes a base ensuring the stability of the hollow body 3. The cover 10 is arranged in the hollow body 3 so as to define an upper chamber 14 in which the 2 is stored, the lower chamber 13 receiving the housing 8. As shown in Figure 2, the gasket 2 rests directly on the cover 10. In the illustrated embodiment, the upper chamber 14 substantially corresponds to the cavity defined by the upper shell 31 of the hollow body 3, while the lower chamber substantially corresponds to the cavity defined by the lower shell 30.

In order to achieve the bursting of the hollow body 3, the device 1 further comprises elements 15 arranged in the upper chamber 14 to exert a pressure or impact on the wall of the hollow body 3 during the displacement of the piston in the upper chamber 14 and thus break the hollow body 3. In the illustrated embodiment, the device 1 comprises two elements for breaking the hollow body 3, each element being formed by a rod 15 secured to the piston 10 and arranged to extend into the chamber towards the wall of the hollow body 3. Advantageously, the rods 15 are arranged to come into contact with the weakening zones during the displacement of the piston 10 in the upper chamber 14. The rods 15 are mounted removably on the piston 10 to allow the reuse of the housing 8 according to a particular application as will be seen later.

Advantageously, the housing 8 comprises a wireless communication module arranged to allow wireless communication with an external system. More particularly, the housing 8 comprises a radio frequency receiver adapted to receive signals from an external control system of the Smartphone type 20 or any other equivalent device 1. The device 1 according to the invention can thus be advantageously controlled remotely by a control system suitable for pairing with it. The transceiver operates according to a preferred embodiment in Bluetooth, any other wireless communication mode can however be implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.

Advantageously, the housing 8 includes a memory for storing a personalized message and a speaker 16 for broadcasting the stored message. As will be seen below, the message is a pre-recorded message during the production of the housing 8 electromechanical.

Advantageously, the device 1 comprises a QR code 19 adapted to be read by the control system. When the hollow body 3 is made of a food material, the QR code 19 is preferably provided on the package 18 in which is placed the device 1. It can of course be provided a QR code 19 directly placed on the hollow body 3 .

The illustrated device 1 is formed of the three hollow parts constituting the hollow body 3, namely the lower body 30, the upper body 31 and the head 32. These three parts are molded separately. Once this operation is performed, the housing 8 is placed in the lower body 30, the piston 10 being placed on the side of the insertion opening. The rods 15 of which then fixed on the piston 10 by one of the ends in locations provided for this purpose. The locations are arranged so that the rods 15 automatically assume a correct position to break the body during the displacement of the piston 10. It is then proceeded to the establishment of a box 17 on the piston 10. Once the pressure rods 15 in place on the piston 10 and if appropriate Γ placed box, the upper body 31 is placed on the lower body 30 and welded integral therewith by conventional techniques used in confectionery. The liner 2 is then introduced through the upper opening of the upper body 31 and, once the lining operation is complete, the head 32 is assembled to the upper body 31. In the illustrated embodiment, the assembly of the head 32 and the upper body 31 is formed by interlocking, the upper body 31 having an upper end formed for this purpose. The advantage of such an assembly is to facilitate the rupture of the upper body 31 as well as the expulsion of the head 32 during the actuation of the piston 10.

The operating principle of the device 1 is as follows. The device 1, ordered on the Internet, is delivered to the recipient indicated by the sender. On reception, the recipient flashes the QR code 19 with his Smartphone 20, which QR code 19 sends the recipient to the site on which the device 1 was ordered to download the smartphone application 20 of the device 1 (Figure 3A). Once the application has been downloaded, the recipient can listen to or view the message left on the website by the sender (Figure 3B). The addressee then proceeds, if it has not done following the download of the Smartphone application 20, the pairing of his Smartphone 20 and the device 1 received according to the instructions provided by the website. Once the pairing is done, the recipient can trigger the actuation of the bursting of the device 1 from his Smartphone 20. The information is transmitted to the RF receiver which transmits it to the circuit electronic. It retrieves the voice message or the sound effect stored in the memory of the housing 8 as for example a "cocorico" it transmits via the speaker 16 (Figure 3C) advantageously followed by an explosion noise. Together, the electronic circuit synchronizes the explosion noise with the activation of the actuating mechanism of the piston 10 and thus the bursting of the hollow body 3 and the spouting of the lining 2 (FIG. 3D). Once the device 1 exploded, the recipient retrieves the housing 8 whose cover 10 has been separated from the protective shell 9 (while being retained). By repositioning the cover 10 on the protective shell 9, the housing 8 can then be used as a speaker operating in Bluetooth mode or the like according to the communication module provided in the housing 8. Advantageously, it can be provided, in addition to or in replacement of the Smartphone 20 as triggering means of the actuating mechanism of the piston 10, manual release means (wire, push button, etc.). FIGS. 4 to 6 show an example of an actuating mechanism 30 of the piston 10 implemented with, as a manual triggering means, a wire 200. In this embodiment, the actuating mechanism 30 comprises a disk 31 mounted rotatably on the bottom wall 80 of the housing 8. The wire 200 is fixedly secured to the disk 31 and is arranged thereon so that, when pulled, the disk 31 is rotated.

A return spring 11C is disposed between the disc 31 and the piston 10. As will be seen below, under the action of the spring 11C, the piston 10 passes from a position in which it is retained in the direction of the bottom wall 80 of the casing 8 (position called the armed position of the piston - FIG. 5) to a remote position (said position released from the piston - FIG. 6). This latter position characterizes the position in which the liner is ejected. In the illustrated example, the piston 10 is a tubular piece having a closed upper end, the return spring being housed inside said part.

The actuating mechanism 30 also comprises an annular piece 32 provided with threads 320 in which the piston 10 is mounted screwed when in the armed position. The piston 10 is held in this position by locking means of the piston and disk locking means in the given position, the piston locking means and the disc locking means cooperating with each other reciprocally. More particularly, the piston locking means comprise triggers 33 rotatably mounted around respectively an axis carried by the inner wall of the annular piece 32, each trigger 33 cooperating with a lug 34 carried on the outer lateral surface of the piston 10. The disk locking means comprise fingers 35 rotatably mounted respectively rotatable an axis carried by the lower surface of the disc, said fingers bearing against a rib 36 formed on the lower surface of the disc 32 and against the trigger 33. The triggers 33 are held coupled with their lug 34 associated via fingers 35 as shown in FIG. 5A. Advantageously, and as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the rib 36 has interrupt zones.

The transition from the armed position (Figure 5) to the release position (Figure 6) is as follows. The traction on the wire 200 drives the disk 31 in rotation about its axis. When the disk 31 reaches the position in which the fingers 35 reach the interruption zones 37 of the rib 36, the latter, being no longer retained by the rib 36, rotate around their axis, thus releasing the triggers 33. The last then rotate around their axis, releasing the lugs 34 of the piston 10. The lugs released, the piston 10 suddenly unscrews from the annular piece 32.

Figure 7 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the actuating mechanism with wire. In this embodiment, the actuating mechanism takes up the elements constituting the mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 6. It furthermore comprises a loudspeaker 38, a motor 39 and an electronic card 40. [0039] In which precedes, the hollow body 3 is in the form of a cock. It is of course obvious that the invention is not limited to this form and that the body intended to burst may take various forms and varied without departing from the scope of the invention. Moreover, in the illustrated example, the hollow body is formed of three parts. It is of course obvious that the hollow body is not limited to this configuration and can be formed in two or more parts.

The invention is described in the foregoing by way of example. It is understood that the skilled person is able to achieve different embodiments of the invention without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

Device (1) for expelling a liner (2) comprising:

a hollow body (3) rigid,

a piston (10) arranged in the hollow body (3) so as to delimit an upper chamber (14) for storing the lining (2) and a lower chamber (13), a mechanism for actuating the expulsion of the lining apart of the hollow body by displacement of the piston (10) inside the upper chamber (14), the mechanism being housed in the lower chamber (13),

characterized in that the actuating mechanism is disposed in an independent housing comprising a protective shell closed by a lid constituted by the piston.

Device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the actuation mechanism comprises a radio frequency receiver adapted to receive signals from an external control system.

Device (1) according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that it comprises a QR code that can be read by an external control system.

Device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises a memory for storing message or personalized sound effect and a speaker for broadcasting the message or sound effect.

Device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it comprises an electronic card controlling an electromagnetic element.

Device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the hollow body (3) having a wholly or partly breakable wall.

Device (1) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the hollow body (3) has an inner wall provided with grooves forming predefined breaking zones.

Device (1) according to claim 6 or claim 7, characterized in that the piston is provided with thrust elements arranged with the wall of the hollow body (3) of so as to exert, when moving the piston (10) in the upper chamber (14), a pressure on said wall to break the wall of the hollow body (3).

9. Device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the actuating mechanism comprises springs connecting the cover (10) to the wall of the protective shell (9).

10. Device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the hollow body (3) is made of one or more material (s) food (s).