US2977028A - Dispenser for measured amounts of fluid - Google Patents

Description

March 28, 1961 E, J JOFFE 2,977,028

DISPENSER FOR MEASURED AMOUNTS OF FLUID Filed Dec. 4, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 lllllrlllm INVENTOR.

rray/v6) March 28, 1961 E. J. JOFFE 2,977,028

DISPENSER FOR MEASURED AMOUNTS OF FLUID Filed Dec. 4, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Tir:-2.

INVENTOR.

United States Patent DISPENSER FOR MEASURED AMGUNTS F FLUID Edward J. Jofle, Summit, NJ, assignor to Park Plastics Co., Inc., Linden, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Dec. 4, 1953, Ser. No. 778,123

4 Claims. (Cl. 222-442) This inventionrelates to a dispenser, and more particularly'to a. dispenser of the type that may be made an integral'portion of a container, such as a can. More particularly,.rny invention relates to a dispenser that when attached to' a container, will. dispense predetermined amounts of fluid each time the container is inverted.

As a particularfeature of my invention, I form adispenser unit that is readfly adapted to be inserted into a container to form an integral part of the container. More particularly, thedispenser unit is preferably formed asan integral part with no moving elements such as valves or the, like and preferably from some standard plastic material, thereby facilitating its assembly in a container.

As a further particular feature of the invention, the dispenser. unit is formed so that it accepts the cap of the container for closing the container, preferably through the forming of screw threads onthe. dispenser unit.

As afurther feature of my invention, the dispenser unit is adapted. to dispense a predetermined amount of fluid each time the container in which it is attached is completely inverted, this inversion being effective to prepare the dispensing unit for a subsequent operation thereof, as whenthe container is righted and then inverted once again. As a particular feature of this .part of the invention, the dispensing. and the refilling operation or recycling operation will take place regardless of the direction or path of inversion of the container. In other words, the container need not be inverted in a particular direction or in a particular plane.

As a still further feature of my invention, the dispenser unit is so constructed that there can be continuousflow of'fiuid should the container andthe fluidbe placed in a particular position.

I have thus outlined rather broadly the more important features of my invention in order that the detailed description, thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that my contribution to the art may be better appreciated. I There are,of course, additional. features.of my invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the ant will appreciate that the conception on which my disclosureis based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structuresrfor. carrying out the several purposes of my invention. It is. important, therefore, that the claims be re garded'as including such equivalent constructions as do not. depart from the spirit and scope of my invention,

in order to prevent the appropriation of my invention by Pics Fig. 7 is a. view showingthe container afterit has been righted from its position of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 shows thecontainer of Fig. 7'inverted.with the cap removed for the dispensing of the fluid therefrom; and

Fig; 9 showstthe position the container must assume in'order to allow continuous flow of the fluid therefrom.

Referring. now again to the drawings, and especially Figs. 2+5, butparticularly Fig. 5; the dispenser unit of my invention is formed .withacylindrical measuring and dispensing chamber 19 having aclosedlbottornlll and-an upper end 12;. The cylindrical. wall defining the lower part of the. chamber. isdesignated by reference numeral 13,:while the upper endofwthe cylindrical Wallis designated by the reference; numeral 1'4. Screw threads 15 arez'forrned on the upper cylindrical wall. 14 for coaction with aclosingi cap. 16' shown in Figs. 1 and 6.

Near midway between the. closed end 11 and the up per open end 12.0fthe cylindrical wall l3, 14, of chamber 10; there is formed a'controlpassage or slot designated generally by reference numeral 20; having. the shape of an inverted T when it occupiestheuposition of: Figs. Band. 5'; The function of this controlpassage will be explained shortly. Just below the controlpassage or slot lil there is formed integrally with the cylindricaliwall 13, 14 a plate il having vertical walls 22. and 23 m two edges thereof' Upstanding from the plate 21 is an abutment-24iin which is formeda venting passage 25', the venting passage extending also through the plate 21; This is best illustrated in Fig; 3.

In the preferred type of assembly for which my dispenser isbest adapted, portions of the container coact with thewalls 22 and 23, as well as the plate 21, to form passages and separating walls as will be apparent. This makes it possible to utilize my dispenser unit without any additional parts and without any difiicult operation on thecontainer itself. Thus, the container for which my invention is best adapted is formed as well shown in-Figs. 1-3, with a body 39, preferably made of some thin sheet metal. The upper'end of the container is bent inwardly at 31 with a shoulder at 32 and then has a further small vertical cylindrical portion 33. This further vertical cylindrical portion 33 is turned inwardly at 34 to enter" a groove 35 in-the upper wall Mott the dispenser unit-whereby to hold the dispenser unit completely assembledto the container. The dimensions of thepart 31 and the shoulder 32 are such that the plate 211 will fit against the shoulder 32. to close off that part of the container below the plate 21 from that part of the. container above the plate 21 except at passages to be set forthbelow'.

Thus, there will be narrow passages 49 and 41 as best seen in Fig. 4, between the walls 22 and 23 and the cylindrioal container'wall 33. Further, there willbe communication through the vent passage 25 between the lower part of the container and thatportion of the container above the plate 21. in describing my invention, I shall use the letter C to define that portion of the container below the plate Zll in Fig, 3, using the letter R to indicate that portion of thecontainer defined by the cylindrical wall 33 and above, plate 21. Letter R is chosen because this part of the container functions as a reservoir, as willv be madeapparent shortly.

I shall now describe the. operation of the dispenser unit of my invention outlining the fillingthereof, together with one dispensing cycle.

As has been indicated, the dispenser unit is assembled within a container so as to form an upper reservoir R generally separated from the remainder of'the container C, with communication established between container C and reservoir R through passages 40 and 41, as well as the vent passage 25. To fill the container, the cap 16 is applied to the screw threads and the container placed in the position of Fig. 6. Fluid is now poured into the container and enters the reservoir R through the passages and 41 until stopped. The bottom is then fixed to container 30. I

No fluid will flow above line H in Fig. 6 into that portion of the reservoir designated by reference numeral because of the control exercised by the vent passage 25, it being obvious that once the bottom of the vent passage at line H is closed, no further movement of fluid irom the container C is possible. No fluid will flow through the T slot 20 into chamber 10 because of the air trapped in the dispensing chamber 10.

Fig. 7 illustrates the container of Fig. 6 when it has been righted. Upon the righting of the container, the fluid will flow from the reservoir R through the T slot 20 into the lower part of the dispensing chamber 10, the T slot forming a vent until the level of fluid in Fig. 7 is reached. Any excess of fluid will flow through the vent 25 back into the container C, it being obvious, of course, that some fluid will remain about the outer wall of the cylindrical dispensing chamber 10 and between it and the two vertical walls 22, 23, this being the space 50 alluded to in connection with Fig. 6.

The container of Fig. 7 is now ready for a dispensing operation when that is desired. To dispense, the cap 16 is removed and the dispenser is inverted to the position shown in Fig. 8. All of the fluid within the chamber 10 will now flow outwardly in the direction of the arrow 55. Simultaneously, fluid will flow from container C through the passages 40, 41, into reservoir R, as shown by arrow F, with venting taking place at vent 25. The position of the vent 25 is such that the upper surface of the fluid flowing into reservoir R cannot reach above line H in Fig. 8, this being below the lower horizontal opening of the T slot 20. Therefore, no fluid can flow through the horizontal opening of T slot 20 into chamber 10. The vertical portion of control T slot is too narrow for fluid to flow under the circumstances indicated, since there is no venting to permit this flow. Therefore, the fluid will simply fill the reservoir R to the level H and no further fluid will move outwardly of the container C. It will be noted that actually, the amount of fluid within the reservoir R is exactly the same as that in Fig. 6. Now, when the container is righted to the position of Fig. 7, the dispensing chamber is filled as illustrated in that figure with the excess fluid flowing into the container chamber C and some fluid remaining at 50. It is now possible to go through a further dispensing cycle.

In Fig. 9, the container is shown at an angle, and at this angle, the vent 25 will not function to maintain the level of fluid below the horizontal portion of the T slot 20. Therefore, fluid will flow from the reservoir R into the T slot and outwardly through the open end 12 of the dispenser unit. In other words, a continuous flow of fluid is possible when the container is in the position of Fig. 9.

I believe that the operation and novelty of my invention will now be apparent to those skilled in the art.

I now claim:

1. In a dispenser of the class described, a container having a main body for containing fluid, means forming a dispensing chamber closed at its bottom end and having an upper open end extending above the main body of said container when said container is righted, means forming a reservoir surrounding a portion of said dispensing chamber and providing communication for the flow of fluid from said main body into said reservoir together with a permanently open passage between said reservoir and said dispensing chamber, means forming a vertical vent passage extending from said reservoir to said main body and having upper and lower ends, and the greater portion of said permanently open passage being within 4 the vertical distance defined by the said upper and lower ends of said vent passage when said container is vertical, substantially for the purpose described.

2. In a dispenser of the class described, a container having a main body for containing fluid, means forming a dispensing chamber closed at its bottom end and having an upper open end extending above the main body of said container when said container is righted, means forming a reservoir surrounding a portion of said dispensing chamber and providing open communication for the flow of fluid between said main body and said reservoir together with a permanently open passage between said reservoir and said dispensing chamber, said permanently open passage being shaped to form two area portions of which one area portion is large relatively to the other, means forming a vertical vent passage extending from said reservoir to said main body and having upper and lower ends, and the relatively large area portion of said permanently open passage being within the vertical distance defined by the said upper and lower ends of said vent when said container is vertical.

3. In a dispenser of the class described, a container having a main body for containing fluid, means forming a dispensing chamber closed at its bottom end and having an upper open end extending above the main body of said container when said container is righted, means forming a reservoir surrounding a portion of said dispensing chamber and providing open communication for the flow of fluid between said main body and said reservoir together with a permanently open passage between said reservoir and said dispensing chamber, means forming a vertical vent passage extending from said reservoir to said main body to allow fluid to flow from the said main body into said reservoir when said container is inverted, and the main portion of said permanently open passage being above the lower end of the vent passage when said container is inverted whereby fluid will not reach the level of the main portion of said permanently open passage and will therefore not flow into said dispensing chamber when the container is inverted, the righting of said container bringing the main portion of said permanently open passage as well as said dispensing chamber below the level of the fluid in said reservoir whereby said fluid then flows through said passage into said dispensing chamber.

4. 'In a dispenser of the class described, a container having a main body for containing fluid, means forming a dispensing chamber closed at its bottom end and having an upper open end-extending above the main body of said container when said container is righted, means forming a reservoir surrounding a portion of said dispensing chamber and providing communication for the flow of fluid from said main body into said reservoir together with a permanently open T slot passage between said reservoir and said dispensing chamber, the inversion of said container filling said reservoir which thereafter fills said dispensing chamber through said T slot when the container is righted, the 'vertical portion of the said permanently open T slot passage being small relatively to the horizontal portion, means forming a vertical vent passage having upper and lower ends and extending from said reservoir to said main body to permit filling said reservoir to the level of the lower end of the vertical vent passage when the container is inverted, and the said relatively large horizontal portion of said T slot lying above the lower end of said vent when said container is inverted and said reservoir is being filled whereby fluid will not flow into said dispensing chamber when the container is inverted but will flow into said dispensing chamber when the container is thereafter righted.-

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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