WO2007070940A1

WO2007070940A1 - Slidable hand operated fluid pouring device for containers

Info

Publication number: WO2007070940A1
Application number: PCT/AU2006/001932
Authority: WO
Inventors: Joseph Kaltoum; Kevin Geoffrey Skelton
Original assignee: Chilmix Pty Limited
Priority date: 2005-12-19
Filing date: 2006-12-19
Publication date: 2007-06-28

Abstract

A pouring assembly (10) is provided. The assembly (10) is adapted for connection to a container for allowing viscous fluid to be poured from the container. The assembly (10) includes a body (12) having a pouring lip (26), the pouring lip (26) defining a pouring orifice (24). A cover plate (14) is arranged to selectively slidably seal the pouring orifice (24). A handle (16) is arranged to pivot relative to the body (12). The handle (16) is connected to the cover plate (14) by way of a spring member (18) so that operation of the handle (16) causes the cover plate (14) to slide to an open position. The handle (16) is biased by the spring member (18) to return to a rest position which causes the cover plate (14) to slide to a closed sealed position.

Description

SLIDABLE HAND OPERATED FLUID POURING DEVICE FOR CONTAINERS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to pouring devices, and more particularly to a pouring assembly for use with containers for containing and pouring flowable substances, such as, liquids, slurries and granular material. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A variety of containers including closure assemblies which allow selective pouring of flowable substances such as liquids, slurries and granular material are known. Pouring containers are used widely in industry and domestically, and are each designated to fulfil a particular pouring objective.

Various pouring devices are disclosed in the following US patents 1814083, 1845966, 3168226, 3185358, 3212686, 3672547, 4750648, 4852775, 4926390. One category of prior art pouring assemblies relates to pouring of viscous liquids, for example paints and oils. This is the field of particular concern for the present invention

Paint manufacturers are faced increasingly with a demand from the public to supply paints in greater ranges of colours. In relation to decorative paints, (that is to say paints for the decoration of buildings) professional specifiers and do-it- yourself enthusiasts call for access to a wide range of colours and finishes. In motor vehicle refinishing, there is also a call for access to a wide range of paint colours. The only practical way such calls can be met is for the paint manufacturer to provide a mixing scheme. Typically a mixing scheme consists of a base paint (generally called a mixing basic), a collection of coloured tinters and other paint components, and a recipe card. The tinters and other components are added to the base paint according to the recipe card to produce the required colour. In the case of paints for motor vehicle re-spray it is usual for the tinters to be added by being poured by hand from individual containers. This operation needs to be carried out accurately to ensure that the correct amount is poured to obtain the exact colour required. Normally, this is achieved by placing a container partly filled with the base paint to a predetermined weight on scales and pouring the, or each, tinter required into the base colour container up to a weight prescribed by the recipe.

It is known to provide a pouring device for this operation which is constructed out of metal and comprises a lid provided around its periphery with a number of rotatable locking levers by which it can be fitted and sealed onto a standard container of a particular size (e.g. a 1 litre or 2.5 litre round can) the lid being integral with a pouring spout. The mouth of the pouring spout is defined by a frontal lip and is normally closed by a cover plate having a mating face. To achieve closing of the spout, the cover plate is either mounted on a pivot and biased downwardly into abutting contact with the frontal lip, or the cover plate is mounted to be moved in sliding contact along said frontal lip, and is biased to cover the spout. The spout can then be readily uncovered by manual pressure via an appropriate operating lever against the bias. Typically, this opening pressure against the bias is applied downwardly. In use, each tint container is tipped to a position in which the plane of the frontal lip is substantially vertical so that the tint liquid will separate cleanly from the lip. Such devices have proved efficient in use and, in particular, the seal provided by the metal cover plate on the spout has been effective due mainly to the rigidity of the metal components, with accurate pouring being due mainly to the rigidity of the metal components providing a sharp flow cut-off upon closure of the plate.

It will be understood that it is critical to achieving the desired colour that the pouring closure operate rapidly and without slippage or dripping, so that only the correct quantity of tint is dispensed. However, one problem encountered here is that these prior art metal arrangements have a configuration which does not facilitate the construction of container closure assemblies in plastics, due mainly to the difficulty achieving an effective seal because of the inherent resilience of suitable plastics material.

One container top is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2272867 which has a pouring device designed for pouring a viscous liquid such as syrup. The pouring device comprises an annular spout having a frontal lip defining its mouth, a cover plate which is pivotally mounted and biased into abutting closing contact with the mouth lip, and operating means for the cover plate. This is primarily intended for construction in metal, as it would be difficult to maintain rigidity on the extended lever arm of this device in a plastic material.

United States Patent 5,267,675 discloses a pouring device for viscous liquid such as paint including essentially two plastics components in which a sharp flow cut-off can be achieved irrespective of the natural resilience normally present in plastic material. The two components are a cover plate with an integral operating lever, and a spout integral with a support body.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a pouring and sealing device which can be fabricated from plastic, and which can provide a rapid, reliable cut off to flow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a pouring assembly adapted for connection to a container for allowing viscous fluid to be poured from the container, the assembly having a body including a pouring lip, the pouring lip defining a pouring orifice; a cover plate arranged to selectively slidably seal the pouring orifice; a handle, which pivots relative to the body; the handle being connected to the cover plate by way of a spring member so that operation of the handle causes the cover plate to slide to an open position, the handle being biased by the spring member to return to a rest position which causes the cover plate to slide to a closed sealed position.

Preferably, the spring member is arranged to bias the cover plate to maintain contact with the pouring lip while sliding between said open and closed positions.

In exemplary embodiments, the handle includes an axle portion which receives a looped portion on the spring member. Preferably, the handle includes a strut extending from the axle portion and terminating at a pivot axle, about which the handle pivots; the body including a recess which mountably receives the pivot axle. Ideally, the spring member includes a leg portion which extends from the looped portion and abuts the pivot axle. According to preferred embodiments, the spring member includes an arm portion which engages formations on the cover plate for connecting the spring member to the cover plate. Ideally, the body further includes a guide member arranged to engage the arm portion. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a pouring according to a preferred embodiment;

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a body of the assembly of Fig. 1 ;

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of a cover plate and spring member of the assembly of Fig. 1 ;

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of a handle of the assembly of Fig. 1 ; Figure 5 shows an elevational view of the assembly of Fig. 1 ; and

Figure 6 shows a cross-sectional view of the assembly shown in Fig. 5. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention lends itself to many different implementations, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The following example is intended to illustrate only one possible implementation.

Figure 1 shows a pouring assembly 10. Pouring assembly 10 includes a body 12, a cover plate 14, a handle 16 and a spring member 18.

The body 12 is arranged to be removably attached to a container (not shown). Referring to Fig. 6, at the base of the body 12 is formed a screw- threaded cavity 20. The screw-threaded cavity 20 is sized in order to receive a screw-threaded collar (not shown), which extends around the open mouth of a container. The screw-threaded cavity 20 is in fluid communication with a fluid passage 22 in the body 12 which leads to a pouring orifice 24. The pouring orifice 24 is defined by a surrounding pouring lip 26, see Fig. 2. Thereby, when the body 12 is attached to the container's collar, a fluid passage is formed to allow the contents of the container to be poured via the pouring orifice 24.

The body 12 may be conveniently moulded from a suitable thermoplastics material. When used for paint applications it is preferred that the material has a high degree of rigidity which is non-toxic and chemically resistant to the colour tints; suitable materials may be Polypropylene and Nylon, or filled plastics, for example Nylon filled with fibre glass.

Referring to Fig. 2, the body 12 includes a pair of formations 27 which define a pair of recesses 28. The recesses 28 are arranged to receive and support a pivot axle 30 on the handle 16. The handle 16 is able to pivot about the pivot axle 30. Referring to Fig. 4, the pivot axle 30 is arranged on the end of a strut member 32. The strut member 32 extends to an axle portion 34, which is arranged to receive and pivotally support looped portions 36 on the spring member 18. The handle includes an operating tab 38 via which an operator can apply manual pressure to pivot the handle 16 about the pivot axle 30. Referring to Fig. 6, it will be appreciated that when downward pressure is applied to the operating tab 38, the handle is pivoted in an anti-clockwise direction and the axle portion 34 and, hence, the looped portions 36 on the spring member 18 are displaced in this direction, i.e. towards the left of Fig. 6. The spring member 18 includes leg portions 40 which extend from the looped portions 36 and abut pivot axle 30. This arrangement of the spring member 18 provides a clockwise bias for the handle 16. Thereby, applying downward pressure to the operating tab acts against this bias. When the pressure is removed, the bias causes the handle 16 to return clockwise to its rest position.

Referring to Figs 1 and 3, the spring member 18 includes an arm portion 42. The arm 42 is received in saddle formations 44 on the upper surface of the cover plate 14. The arm also engages guide formations 46 arranged on the body 12. This arrangement provides two functions. Firstly, when the handle 16 is pivoted against the bias, the arm 42 transfers a sliding force to the cover plate 14, thereby sliding the cover plate 14 towards the left (as per Fig. 6) into an open position thus exposing the pouring orifice 24 to allow fluid to be poured from the container via the pouring orifice 24. It will be appreciated that when the operating pressure is removed from the handle 16, the bias rotating the handle back to its rest position also causes the arm 42 to slide the cover plate 14 back to a closed position whereby the pouring orifice 24 is covered by the cover plate 14. The arm's 42 second function is to provide a downward bias to the cover plate 14, which maintains the cover plate 14 in contact with the pouring lip 26 so as to provide an effective seal for the pouring orifice 24 when covered by the cover plate 14.

The cover plate 14 and the handle 16 can be conveniently moulded from the same type of materials as the body 12. While the present invention has been described with respect to a specific embodiment, it will be appreciated that various modifications and changes could be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A pouring assembly adapted for connection to a container for allowing viscous fluid to be poured from said container, the assembly having a body including a pouring lip, said pouring lip defining a pouring orifice; a cover plate arranged to selectively slidably seal the pouring orifice; a handle, which pivots relative to the body; the handle being connected to the cover plate by way of a spring member so that operation of the handle causes the cover plate to slide to an open position, the handle being biased by the spring member to return to a rest position which causes the cover plate to slide to a closed sealed position.

2. The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the spring member is arranged to bias said cover plate to maintain contact with said pouring lip while sliding between said open and closed positions.

3. The assembly according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said handle includes an axle portion which receives a looped poάion on said spring member.

4. The assembly according to claim 3, wherein said handle includes a strut extending from said axle portion and terminating at a pivot axle, about which the handle pivots; said body including a recess which mountably receives said pivot axle.

5. The assembly according to claim 4, wherein said spring member includes a leg portion which extends from said looped portion and abuts said pivot axle.

6. The assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said spring member includes an arm portion which engages formations on said cover plate for connecting said spring member to said cover plate.

7. The assembly according to claim 6, wherein said body further includes a guide member arranged to engage said arm portion.

8. The assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said body includes a screw threaded cavity, in fluid communication with said pouring orifice, said screw threaded cavity adapted to mate with a screw threaded collar surrounding an open mouth of a container to provide said connection between said assembly and said container.

9. The assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said body, cover plate and handle are all formed from a plastic material.