US2471852A - Dispenser with flow restricting valve - Google Patents

Description

May 31, 1949. R. G. BAU

DISPENSER WITH FLOW RESTR ICTING VALVE Filed July 19, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. Qaaazr oepozv 5 40 May 31, 1949.

R. G. BAU

DISPENSER WITH FLOW RESTRICTING VALVE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 19, 1847 h a A 5 INVENTOR. Eoaaer (zaepou 5/10 for Dispenser.

ii-r led May 19, 1945, for iiDispenser. havin a seal between the open end of a flexible bag and a cup-shaped top, also a check valve Patented May 31, 1949 ZA'ZhtSZ UNITED STATES ATEINT oFFicE DISPENSERWITH FL'OW RESTRICTIN'G VALV E Robert Gordon Bau, NorthHollywood, Calif.

Application July 19, 1947, Serial No. 762N 19 -3 Claims.

The invention relates to a dispenser for face cream 'or similar cosmetic or viscous material wherein a casing is provided with :a "removable icartridge 'havin a ii'exibie bag, a spring pressed jiplunger beingprovided in .exerit pressure on the bag, and the casing having a valve operator to icomntol the discharge iof the bag con-tents.

.An object of the invention is to simplify and improve the construction tof the dispenser disclosed and claimed :in the afollowing cases which -disclose and -eclaim several features disclosed h erein The design "covered .by Design Patent No. (140,111,1pater1ted-January"23, 1-945, rfor Dispenser for cosmetic creams.

application-'8. I55'5; l5 1, tiled 'S'eptemb'er 25, 1944, The doubl'e valve 'for controlling 'theoutlet is covered by applications. N. 594,672, A cartridge control for the-bag therefor are covered by application s. N. 65293585, filed November "19, 1-945, for

Dispenser.

More particularly, an object'of the invention is toimproVe the manner of subjecting the bag toor beingautomatioally brought 'into play against the flexible bag'in the course of securingthetop of the on the bo'ttom of th'ecasing. In'the example shown, the casing parts arehe-ld together by'a screw thread and the'operations previously described are accomplished "without relative roitation between the spring *pressed plunger and the bag while the casingparts are being coupled 'or uncoupled.

The above object is accomplished by automa'tioall y retracting the 'spring pressed plunger into the bottom of the ca-sing away from the flexible bag while "the casing top is being unscrewed. whereby there is no pressure *of the sprin pressed plunger on the bag at the time tb'at ti'esh cartridge =is inserted in the "casing,

th plunger being advanced towarcls and *iully acting on :the bag in'the course *of fastening the 'topdn ipia'ce. Aocording to another feature invention, QIBIRl'iiVG FOtatlOH between the 'oi .flexible bag and spring pressed plunger iispreven ted rcluring \the itime "that the casing parts are relatively rotated :to secure themtoget'herlor :ta'ke athem apart, by ealising :the plunger :and *the :bag itontotate asaunit during tthat'tim'e.

The valve control of a spring loaded removable :cartridge is covered by threads "4.

According 'to a further feature 'of the invention, an improved check-valve is provided for the neck of the cartridge, with an improvedva-lve operator which [ireiferably iemhodi'es also an additional metering valve, themeterin'g valve and the valve operator on the casing being brought into roperative relation with'th'encheck valve on the cartridge when the cartridge "is assembled :in the casing. FACGOl'dil'Ig to this lfeature, the neck of the cartridge provides a seat for the metering valve :and when the operator is actuated, the metering valve is :moved toward :closed position "as the check valve :is moved toward lopen position to graduate the flowand. finallyreduce-the flow to zero, which not only :controls the "flow of ifluid material but also stops it in the extreme position-of thevalve operator to prevent :an :undue amount of fluid from being iexpelled.

For further idetailsxif the invention, reference may he made i130 the drawings wherein Fig.1 is a front view in 'elevation of a dispenser according to the present invention.

:Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view .on line .2-2 lot-Fig. 11, Hooking inthe direction of the arrows, the :cartridge bein illustrated as full of face :cream or the like, the valve operator being inelevated position.

Fig. 3 :is an enlarged partialsectional view with :parts broken away, showing the ycheck valve in open position, the valve ibeing in actuated position.

Fig. a4 is :a sectional view corresponding to Fig. .2 with the bag'empty.

Fig. 5 is a perspectiveview of .the cartridge and its flexible bag.

Figadis aiperspective view of a rotatable cage shown inithe'precedingifigures "for spring pressed plunger.

Fig. 7 isiassectionalwiew on llne llrof Fig.4, looking in the direction of the lZWI'OWS- altig. 8 is an .explodedperspedtiveview of a porltion vo'f the vailve operator and the top of the casing.

Fig. i9is a perspective view of the check valve I support for the cartridge.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the dis penser :oomprisesia casin having a top? and a bott'om :3 secured together :by elongated screw The fluid contents are expelled "through an outlet 89 in the casing top, under control ofeaireciprocating valve :openator 5. The casing 2, tnia'y be made of plastic or other suitable maternal, and have shapes suitable for cast ziifl'g or molding.

The fluid contents such as face cream are contained :in a cartridge :6 i'ShOWIl in Fig. 5. The cartridge =6 has a ridge soup-shaped "top 1 which rotatably fits in the corresponding cup-shaped concave bore 81in itheicasingtop 2. The cartridge top 1 has an :annular shoulder 19 "which ifits a corresponding shoulder I8 in the bore 8. Arising from the shoulder 9 is a conical neck II which fits in the conical bore I2 in the top 2. The conical portion I terminates in a flat annular surface I3, the outer portion of which rests against a gasket I4 around the cylindrical bore I5 in the casing top 2. Extending across the inside of neck II is a spider in the form of a disk I6 of plastic seated in and cemented to an annular groove I at the inner portion of neck II. The spider I 6 is also shown in Fig. 9, and it has a series of ports indicated at I8 to permit the fluid contents of the cartridge 6 to issue. Arising from the center of spider I6 is a post I9 which serves as a guide for the hollow stem 20 on a check valve 2|. Valve 2| opens inwardly of the cartridge 6 and it has a seat 22 facing inwardly of the cartridge and arranged on the inner side of the end of neck I I. The seat 22 surrounds a port 23 through which the fluid issues.

Secured to the bottom of the cartridge top 7 is the open end 26 of a flexible bag 25. The end 26 of the bag terminates as indicated at 2| in Fig. 2, between two telescoping parts, namely, the outer end 28 of the cartridge top I, and a ring 29 having external screw threads 38. The ring 3|] is of plastic and cemented to the plastic top I to form a joint which extends beyond the end 26 of the bag as indicated at 95, to prevent leakage past the end of the bag.

The bag 25 has substantially the same capacity as the cup-shaped top I. When the bag 25 is full as shown in Fig. 2, the capacity of the cartridge 6 is equal to the sum of the capacities of the bag 25 and the top 1, the bag at this time as shown in Fig. 2, extending outwardly from the joint between the open end 26 of the bag and the parts 28 and 29. When the bag 25 is empty as shown in Fig. 4, its side 98 fits the concave side 9| of top I and its flat bottom 32 fits against the inner surface of the spider I6, being held or fitted against it by a spring pressed plunger 3| which has a convex contour fitting the convex contour of the cartridge top I, and a fiat bottom 19. At this time, with bag 25 empty as shown in Fig. 4, the bottom 32 of the bag extends across and is sandwiched between the inner side of spider H5 and plunger bottom I9 to expel all the bag contents.

The outer surface of spider I6 has an annular ridge 38 to support the end of a spring 34 coiled in the shape of a cone and its outer and smaller end engages a recess 35 in the valve 2| to urge it to closed position.

Assuming for the moment that the cartridge 6 is in the casing 2, 3 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the flow of fluid from the cartridge is controlled as follows. As shown in Fig. 8, the outer end of the casing top 2 has an annular recess 36 in which is a'cylindrical bearing 31 having a bore 38 to slidingly support the stem 39 of the valve operator 5. The stem 39 has a cylindrical portion 48 which slidingly fits in the bore 36 and it has an inner cylindrical sleeve 4| inside of which are two oppositely disposed longitudinally extending ribs 42, 43. If the operator 5 is turned so that the ribs 42, 43 match with the short recesses 44, 45 on the bearing 31, the operator 5 cannot be pushed in to operate the check valve 2|. If the operator 5 is rotated a quarter turn in either direction, the ribs 42, 43 will slide in the extended grooves 46, 4! in the surface of the bearing 31, to operate valve 2|.

In assembling the operator 5 on the top 2,

the stem 39 is inserted in the bore 38 and then as shown in Fig. 4, the cylindrical cup-shaped valve 48 is mounted on the reduced end 49 of the stem 39, a leaf spring 58 is mounted on stem 49 against the underside of the cup and a disk retainer 5| is mounted on the outer end of the stem 49 and cemented thereto, these parts being of plastic.

The disk 5| is concentric with the valve stem 26 and pushes valve 2| open against the action of spring 34 when the operator 5 is pushed inwardly. When the operator 5 is released, it is moved to its elevated position shown in Fig. 4, by the valve stem 20, valve 2| being urged to its closed position both by fluid pressure in the bag 25, when it has fluid contents as shown in Fig. 2, and by spring 34 whether the bag has fluid contents or not.

The valve 48 restricts the flow from the bag 25 to the outlet 2 by an increasing amount as the operator 5 is pushed inwardly and at the limit of its inward movement the valve 48 fits on the flat outer end I3 of the neck as shown in Fig. 3, to surround the port 23 and cut off the flow to the outlet 89, the check valve 2| being fully opened at this time. The ridge 33 may serve as a stop to limit the opening movement of valve 2| as shown in Fig. 3. The operator may, of course, be pushed in into an intermediate position to obtain a desired fiow at the outlet 83.

The cartridge 6 is assembled in the casing bottom 3 by engaging the threads 36 of the cartridge with the internal threads 68' in the annular collar 6| of a cage 62, see Fig. 6, cage 62 is rotatably mounted in the casing bottom 3 and for this purpose the bottom 63 of the cage 62 has a spindle 64 which rotatably fits in a bore 65 in the base 66 of the casing bottom 3. The outer end of bore 65 is enlarged as shown at 6! to rotatably receive a washer 68 secured to the spindle 64 by a bolt 69. The bottom 63 of the cage extends outwardly beyond the inner end of bore 65 as indicated at I6 and is provided with a washer II. The cage 62 has, depending from the collar 6|, a cylindrical ski-rt I2 which is slightly smaller in diameter than the bore of the bottom 3 which has an elongated screw thread I3. The thread 13 is double lead and. a multiple such as five times the pitch of the threads 4 and is reverse with respect to threads The collar 6| has peripheral spaced grooves as indicated at I5, six such grooves being shown, and the casing top 2 has cast integral therewith a corresponding set of six internal ribs indicated at I6 in Fig. 7, fitting the grooves i5, to rotate the cage 62 with its plunger 3| and the cartridge 6 with its bag 25 as a unit as the casing top 2 is rotated. The bottom 63 of the cage 62 has an inwardly extending boss II to center one end of a coiled compression spring I8 which bears at its other end against the plunger 3|. As shown in Fig. 2, plunger 3| is inverted cupshaped and the spring I8 bears against the flat bottom I9 of the plunger and the latter bears against the fiat bottom 32 of the bag. The rim 8| of the plunger has four outwardly extending lugs such as indicated 82, these lugs 82 each riding in one of the four slots indicated at B3 equally spaced around and extending lengthwise of the sleeve I2. These slots 83 are each open at their lower end as indicated at 84 so as to permit the four lugs like 85 to pass upwardly of the sleeve I2 to a position where the lugs 82 on the plunger can be passed underneath them, by passing the plunger 3| into the open end 88 of the sleeve, when these parts are assembled. Each of the four lugs 85 slide in one of the slots 83, and these lugs are on a retainer ring 86 having external screw threads 91 which mesh with the thread 13. The upper position of the plunger 3! is therefore determined by the position of the ring 86, unless that position is determined by the amount of fluid contents in the bag 25.

Assuming that the casing top 2 is removed, with no cartridge in place, a cartridge is inserted by engaging the threads like 38, see Fig. 5, on the cartridge with the threads 68, see Fig. 6, on the collar 6| of the plunger cage 62. During this time of handling the cartridge 6, if pressure is applied to the bag 25 by hand, the contents do not leak out as such pressure and spring 16 keep the check valve 2| closed. Then the top 2 is placed on the bottom 3 and it is oriented so that the ribs '16 on the top 2 will engage in the slots like on the cage 62. Such engagement, as the top 2 is rotated, causes the ring 86 to advance in the opposite direction, namely, upwardly, at five times the speed, in the example given, from its lowermost position on threads 13 to its uppermost position shown in Fig. 2. Between ring 86 and the underside of collar 6| is arranged a gasket 8'! to insure that ring 86 at its uppermost position will remain in threaded engagement with threads 13. With ring 86 at its uppermost position, it no longer restrains the upward movement of the plunger 3| under action of spring 18, the upward movement of plunger 3| proceeding until the fluid contents in the bag are compressed by an amount determined by the strength of the spring 18, to thereby put the fluid contents in bag 25 under pressure so that such contents will be ejected from outlet 39 when the valve operator 5 is pushed inwardly. The reverse action takes place when the casing top 2 is unscrewed, namely, its rotation causes top 2 to move outwardly relatively to the casing bottom 3 while the rotation of cage 62 due to engagement of rib 16 with slots 15 causes ring 86 to move in the opposite direction, a distance five times as great as the length of screw threads 4, whereby lugs 85 engage lugs 82 and hold the plunger 3i adjacent the base 66, with spring 18 compressed, whereby the pressure of spring 18 does not have to be overcome when a fresh cartridge is inserted.

Behind valve 48 is a cushion chamber :92 at the inlet end of outlet 89, Fig. 3. The face cream passes into chamber 92 from the cartridge during downward movement of operator 5 while both valves 21, 48 are open. The purpose of this is to make the face cream in chamber 92 serve as a cushion to delay the closing of valve 2| and prolong discharge from outlet 89 when operator 5 is released, as otherwise very little face cream would be expelled if valve 2| both opened and closed quickly.

The thread 13 is relieved at its upper end as shown at 93 so that ring 86 will run off the upper end of thread 13 when the casing top 2 is screwed in place on bottom 3. At this time, elastic gasket 81 is compressed as shown in Figs. 2 and 4 to press the thread leads 9! on ring 86 in contact with the thread leads at the upper end of threads 13. This prevents stripping threads 13, 91 if ring 86 were to reach its uppermost position before the casing parts 2, 3 were screwed together. This mischance might be due to surreptitious manual rotation of ring 86 before it proper rotation by coupling the casing parts together.

For a similar reason, the lower end of thread 13 is relieved as shown at 94, whereby, if ring 86 reaches its lowermost position before the casing parts are uncoupled, ring 86 freely rotates off the thread 13 but in end to end engagement therewith, ready to lift ring 86 at the proper time. Preferably the casing thread 4 is 10% greater in effective length than thread 13, to insure that ring 86 will reach the limit of both its upward and downward stroke adjacent the relieved portions 93, 94.

While Fig. 2 illustrates the condition for the spring 18, unrestrained by lugs 85, acting on a full cartridge, if ring 86 were imagined lowered until its lugs engaged 82, this figure would also substantially show the lowermost position of the plunger 31 with the casing top 2 removed, although the lowermost position of plunger may be slightly lower than that illustrated and in that position the bottom 32 of the bag may either be free from or lightly rest on the end 19 of the plunger.

When the top 2 is screwed on to or unscrewed from the bottom 3, relative rotation between the bottom 19 of the plunger and the flexible bag 25 is prevented, as these parts rotate together and with the plunger cage 62.

Various modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A dispenser comprising a casing having an outlet, a removable cartridge for said casing, an inwardly opening valve in said cartridge, a valve operator in said casing for said valve, and a second and inwardly closing valve on said operator, said cartridge having a port controlled by both of said valves, said outlet communicating with both of said valves.

2. A dispenser according to claim 1, said sec-i: ond valve being cup-shaped and seating on saidcartridge, said casing having a cushion chamber behind said second valve in communication with said outlet.

3. A dispenser comprising a casing, a cartridge fitting in said casing, an inwardly opening reciprocating valve on said cartridge and a valve operator therefor on said casing, a bearing supporting said valve operator for rotary and reciprocating movement, said casing and said valve operator having cooperating lug and recess means preventing said valve operator from operating said valve when said valve operator is in one rotary position while permitting said valve op: erator to operate said valve when in another rotary position.

ROBERT GORDON BAU.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 570,935 Lee Nov. 10, 1896 1,207,393 Gammeter Dec. 5, 1916 1,614,532 Mobley Jan. 18, 1927 1,804,235 Smith May 5, 1931,

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