EP0472986B1 - Device for discharging a fluid - Google Patents

Abstract

A discharge apparatus (1) having a storing and indicating device (20), which is operated by the discharge actuating means (5) and is also adjustable in a single direction by direct manual actuation of a further actuator (23). Thus, indicating symbols of different scales (40) can be rendered visible in such a way that an indication or display advantageous for numerous applications is provided.

Description

The invention relates to a discharge device according to the preamble of claim 1 and 11 respectively. It is intended to be suitable for media, in particular for flowable media of any type, with a preferably manually operated discharge actuation being provided. The discharge device should also expediently have a recording device for any data, in particular for storing or displaying such data which are related to the discharge operations carried out or to be carried out with the discharge device. Such data can be provided, for example, for counting the discharge processes carried out or for determining at least one next discharge process in each case.

For example, a counting device can advantageously be provided, in which each pump stroke leads to a further switching of the counting device by a detection unit, because the actuating element of the discharge actuation is also the actuating element for the detecting device at the same time.

From EP-A-0 269 496 (cf. preamble of claim 1), a discharge device with a detection or counting device for the discharge processes has become known, whereby this detection device is always in the operating state insofar as it actuates the discharge each time Activation is also mandatory.

GB-A-1 317 315 (cf. preamble of claim 11) shows a detection device with actuators which are to be assembled axially and radially in succession on the housing of the discharge device and are to be brought into engagement with one another.

The invention is also based on the object of providing a discharge device for media which, at least with regard to special applications, is improved compared to known discharge devices and in particular enables an arbitrary intervention in the control of the detection device which is independent of the discharge actuation.

To achieve this object, the detection device can be controlled via two separate actuation elements, one or both of which are expediently to be operated manually. As a result, a variety of different switching processes can be achieved for the detection device. For example, with an actuator at the beginning of an application of the discharge device, a switching operation can inevitably be triggered by the first discharge operation, and afterwards discharge operations can be carried out repeatedly without another switching operation taking place. At the end of the application process, a further switching step can then be carried out by directly actuating a further actuating element in relation to the same data acquisition. This last-mentioned switching step or a further switching process to be carried out with a further actuating element can be provided for returning the detection device to an initial position such that a switching operation inevitably takes place again the next time the discharge is actuated. Furthermore, this design is suitable for having a specific display relating to this appear after the first discharge operation, for example at the beginning of an application day, while by actuating the further actuating element, for example at the end of an application day, a display of a different kind, for example a symbol or a number, which shows the application days already completed or still to be completed, the next following application day or the like. shows. The detection device is also suitable as tamper protection because the first-time use of the discharge device can be made indelible.

It is conceivable to couple each of the actuators to a separate actuator of the detection device or to form one or both actuators essentially in one piece with the associated actuator. If an actuator is controlled by the discharge actuation, it is expediently formed by a component separate from the associated discharge handle, which can also be designed in the manner of a drag element in such a way that it can only be moved in one direction by the associated handle, namely for Example in the direction of actuation, inevitably carried, but not also returned to the starting position by the handle. As a result, a corresponding display can be maintained irrespective of the further actuation of this handle, and only by actuating a further actuation element is this display deleted by returning the actuator and a further type of display is identified. Symbol and display scales can be provided directly on the actuator in the axial direction one behind the other and / or distributed over the circumference, this actuator expediently having a driver for the associated handle with one end face and a switching member of the actuator which forms with the other end a mating member of the further actuating member or a further actuator connected to it is engaged or can be disengaged.

It is particularly expedient if the discharge device can be optionally equipped with and without a detection device or with different detection devices or display devices without a substantial change in the discharge conveyor and a media store essentially firmly connected to it. As a result, the same discharge device can optionally be designed for different application modes, for example simply by performing one or more plug-in operations. After removing an attached actuation and / or nozzle cap of the discharge actuation, the detection device as a whole or only the scale carrier or the indicator is advantageously removable, insertable or interchangeable. At least one component of the detection device, in particular the base body, is expediently fastened only with a snap connection to the outer circumference of the discharge unit consisting of discharge conveyor and media store. Such a design is also suitable for discharge devices in which the detection device can only be controlled manually with a single actuating element or the storage device is made of glass.

Fig. 1

eine erfindungsgemäße Austragvorrichtung in teilweise geschnittener Ansicht,

Fig. 2

die Stellvorrichtung gemäß Fig. 1 in Querschnitten und

Fig. 3

einen Ausschnitt der Fig. 1 in einer Abwicklung.

These and further features emerge from the description and the drawings in addition to the claims, the individual features being realized individually or in groups in the form of sub-combinations in one embodiment of the invention and can represent advantageous embodiments. An embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings and is explained in more detail below. The drawings show:

Fig. 1

a discharge device according to the invention in a partially sectioned view,

Fig. 2

1 in cross sections and

Fig. 3

a section of Fig. 1 in a settlement.

The discharge device 1 has a discharge unit 2 designed as a self-contained assembly assembly with a discharge conveyor 3 and a storage vessel 4, which can be operated manually by a discharge actuation 5. Here, the piston unit 7 of a pump 6 engaging for the most part in the storage vessel 4 is actuated, the pump chamber of which has a valve-controlled inlet 8 and a valve-controlled outlet 9. For actuation, a piston or actuating tappet 10 is provided, which is connected to a conveying handle or an actuating member 11 in the form of a pressure surface surrounding it and is arranged on the plunger tappet of the piston unit 7 via a plug connection. The actuating plunger 10 is penetrated by an outlet duct 13 connected to the outlet 9, surrounded by a discharge nozzle 12 formed in one piece with it and lying approximately in the pump axis, and has the discharge nozzle of the discharge unit 2 leading to the outside in the region of its end face. The cylinder housing forms with a cylinder cover a base body 14, with which the discharge conveyor 3 is fastened to the vessel neck 17 by a fastening member 15, for example a crimp ring encompassing a cap-shaped vessel flange 16. Between this vessel flange 16 and the vessel belly 18, the vessel neck 17 forms an annular groove on the outer circumference, which can be delimited on one side by the fastening member 15. The part of the base body protruding from the storage vessel 4 and the fastening member 15 are overlapped by a cap 19 which forms the actuating member 11 with its end face.

A detection device 20 is provided for detecting each first conveying or pumping process after an arbitrary transfer into a detection state. It carries on the outer circumference of the base body 21 a substantially axially secured, but steplessly and / or gradually rotatable, sleeve-shaped detection member 22, the outer circumference of which is partially or so completely exposed that it can be gripped manually as a further actuating member 23. The sleeve-shaped base body 21 lies with its inner circumference centered on the outer circumference of the fastening member 15 and / or the vascular belly 18, is fixed axially by a stop on the front end face of the fastening member 16 and / or the vascular belly 18 and secured against being pulled off by a snap connection 24. This has on the inner circumference of the resiliently expandable base body 21 snap cams 25 distributed over the circumference, which engage in the annular groove of the discharge unit 2 formed in the region of the vessel neck 17 and, for example, engage behind the rear end face of the vessel flange 16 or the fastening member 15. After plugging the detection device 20 with the actuating plunger 10, the cap 19 can be pushed onto a piston plunger of the otherwise preassembled discharge unit 2 in essentially the same direction and thereby mounted.

Inside the jacket of the cap 19 is a sleeve-shaped actuator 43 which also engages in an inner circumference of the detection element 22 or in an actuator 45 formed in one piece with it. The actuator 43 is axially displaceable and rotatable both with respect to the actuator 11 and with respect to the detection or actuator 22, 45. Compared to the detection or actuator 22, 45, the actuator 43 can axially by an inhibition which nevertheless allows the mutual rotary movement 26 be secured in at least one position. For this purpose, an annular bead-shaped locking cam 27, for example, is provided on an inner circumference of the actuator 45 and / or on an outer circumference of the actuator 43, which runs with a certain amount of friction on the circumferential surface of the respective other actuator and, in the case of two locking cams, form a resilient snap catch on both actuators can. The escapement is expediently provided so that the actuator 43 in the starting position cannot be moved by weight relative to the actuating handle 11 and can thus move to a different display position than the associated one. To move the actuator 43, the actuator 11 must be actuated, an end of the actuator 43 resting against the inside of the end wall of the cap 19 forming a driver 44. If the actuator 11 is then released and it returns, for example, under the force of a return spring of the discharge conveyor 3, it does not take the actuator 43 in the manner of a freewheel, since the actuator 43 is secured against it by the escapement 26.

The actuator 43 is secured against rotation with respect to the base body 21 by a rotation lock 29, which has at least one locking cam 31 formed on the inner circumference of the actuator 43 by an approximately axial web and a locking groove 32 which can be displaced in each functional position on the outer circumference of a jacket 28 of the base body 21.

In the area of the rear end section 35 facing away from the driver 44, the actuator 43 forms part of an actuator 30 which is designed such that an axial movement of the actuator 43 to a rotational movement of the detection element 42 and vice versa a rotational movement of the detection element 42 to an axial return movement of the Actuator 43 leads. For that purpose it is Actuator provided at the end by tooth-like design with uniformly distributed axially substantially freely projecting control cams 33, each of which is delimited by two oblique cam flanks. Substantially identical, oppositely protruding counter cams 34 are provided on the inner circumference of the detection element 22, which is formed in one piece with the actuator 45 and the actuator 23.

A rear end portion of the detection, actuation or. Actuator 22, 23, 45 surrounds a rear, enlarged annular collar 36 of the base body 21 and is secured against rotation against it by a detent 39 that can be overcome as a function of force and can only be rotated in the manner of a freewheel in one direction of rotation or locked against the other direction of rotation. For this purpose, the collar 36 has sawtooth-shaped locking teeth distributed over its outer circumference, to which a sawtooth-shaped counter-toothing is assigned on the inner circumference of the detection element 22, which can be elastically expanded in this area. The detent pitch of the detent 39 corresponds, for example, to half the tooth pitch of the actuator 30. When the actuator 43 is moved axially, the detection element 22 is rotated further by one detent. The actuator 43 is then automatically axially reset by arbitrary further rotation of the detection element 22 by a further detent.

A display device 37 is provided for at least in certain functional positions of the above-mentioned data, which has a display window 38 in the form of a breakthrough through the jacket at the front end of the detection element 22. This front end engages over the outer circumference of the jacket of the cap 19 at least during the pumping stroke and in particular also in the starting position, so that the display window 37 only in the starting position the cap 19 releases the view of the circumference of the actuator 43, but hides it at the rear in the pump stroke end position. The actuator 43 is designed as a scale carrier and has one or two scales 40 lying axially one behind the other with scale symbols distributed over the circumference in accordance with the pitch of the actuator 30 or the catch 39. A corresponding scale could also be provided on the outer circumference of the jacket of the cap 19. A scale 40 is in the initial position of the actuator 43 and the actuator 11 behind the display window 38 so that a scale symbol is visible from the outside.

If the actuating member 11 is depressed to carry out a discharge process and the actuator 43 is carried along, this scale symbol including the entire scale passes behind the closed jacket of the detection member 22, while the further scale previously located behind the jacket of the cap 19 reaches the area of the display window 38 . At the same time, the detection element 22 is rotated further by the actuator 30 approximately by one of the partial steps mentioned. If the actuator 11 now returns to its initial position by release, the actuator 43 remains in its axial position relative to the detection element 22 and a scale symbol of the said second scale is released by pulling back the cap casing so that it can be recognized by the display window 38. The actuating member 11 can now be actuated as often as desired without the detection state of the detection device 20 changing. By manually rotating the detection element 22 by a further division of the catch 39, however, the first-mentioned scale is again transferred into the area of the display window 38 in such a way that another of its scale symbols is visible from the outside. Subsequent actuation of the discharge conveyor 3 leads to a further switching step of the detection element 22. All return movements can be effected by the single spring of the discharge conveyor 3.

The actuator 11 is expediently guided directly on the base body 21 via a guide 46 designed as a plug connection, so that no bearing forces have to be transmitted to the detection element 22 or the actuator 43. The base body 21 has a cylindrical sleeve 47 projecting over a front, annular and supported on the associated end face of the fastening member 16, which surrounds the cylinder cover of the pump 6 on the outer circumference at a distance and on the outer circumference of the actuator 11 with a corresponding, also freely protruding sleeve 48 is slidably provided on the inside of the end wall of the cap 19. The guide 36 also delimits a space with an annular cross section on the inner circumference essentially tightly from the space through which the discharge conveyor 3 passes. In this annular space are the rotation lock 29, the actuator 30 and the actuator 43, which in turn forms a substantially tight telescopic limitation for the outer circumference of the annular space, since it is relatively narrow in both positions with both ends in the inner peripheries of the cap 19 and the detection member 22 engages tightly.

Claims (12)

1. Discharge apparatus (1) for media with a discharge actuating means (5) determining actuating movements for a discharging means (3) of a discharge unit (2) and with at least one further actuating means containing two separate actuating members (11, 23) for controlling at least one determination device (20), such as a counting device, which is operable in an operating state with the discharge actuating means (5), characterized in that means are provided for transferring the determination device (20) from the operating state into a non-operating state and for securing in said non-operating state independently of the actuating movements of the discharge actuating means (5).
2. Discharge apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that for advancing a determination device (20), particularly the counting device for discharge processes controllable by means of at least two separate actuating members (11, 23), over a determination path between two successive determination units, the two actuating members (11, 23) are to be actuated in a predetermined sequence, successively or for performing in each case part of the determination path.
3. Discharge apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that an actuating member (11) of the actuating means is formed by an actuating handle for the discharge actuating means (5) and/or an actuating member (23) of the actuating means is manually actuatable independently of the discharge actuating means (5) and preferably two control and/or actuating members (43, 45; 11, 23) of a determination device (20) have differing actuating directions, such as an axial and a rotary actuating direction, which are in particular roughly parallel to a central axis and/or about a central axis of the discharge apparatus (1).
4. Discharge apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a movable determining member (22) of a determination device (20) is substantially directly movable, such as rotatable over a partial path between two determination positions with an actuating member (11) of the actuating means by means of a servodrive (30) and on a subsequent partial path through a further actuating member (23) of the actuating means and that preferably an axially movable control and/or actuating member (23, 11) is connectable by means of an in particular engageable and disengageable servodrive (30) to a determining member (22) of the determination device (20) and/or with a further determining member (23) provided for its direct actuation.
5. Discharge apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a control member (43) of a determination device (20) as a drag member is forcibly connected to an associated actuating member (11) of the actuating means in a single movement direction and that this actuating member (11), independently of the control member (43) can be returned to its starting position, the control member (43) being preferably located with a driver (44) formed by one end in the movement path of a driving surface of the actuating member (11) and/or a determination device (20) can be transferred into the non-operating state by actuating the discharge actuating means (5).
6. Discharge apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an actuating member (23) of the actuating means is provided for returning a control member (43) of the determination device (20) into a starting position with respect to the other actuating member (11) of the actuating means, which is particularly in the starting position, and that preferably the control member (43) is movable in one direction with one actuating member (11) and in the opposite direction with the other actuating member (23).
7. Discharge apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one control member (43) of a determination device (20) forms an indicating member of an indicating device (37), particularly carrying on a circumference at least one indicating scale with which is associated an indicator, such as an indicating window (38), preferably on the manually rotatable control member (45).
8. Discharge apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one rotary actuating and/or control member (23, 45) of the actuating means of a determination device (20) can be fixed with a catch system (39) disengaging in force-dependent manner, particularly on an inner circumference being provided with a catch tooth system, a control tooth system of the servodrive (30) and/or in the vicinity of one end an indicator.
9. Discharge apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an actuating member (23) of the actuating means is constructed substantially in one piece with a control member (45) and/or a determining member (22) of a determination device (20) and preferably forms at least part of an outer protective jacket for the servodrive (30), a rotation preventing guide (29) and/or a catch system (39).
10. Discharge apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a determination device (20) can be coupled substantially exclusively by means of a driver (44) to the discharge actuating means (5), particularly with the axially movable control member (43) is insertable in an actuating cap (19) and/or can be applied to an end wall of the cap (19), preferably the control member (43) has a sleeve-like construction and is prevented from rotating with respect to a body (21) on which is mounted in rotary manner a further control and/or actuating member (45, 23) of the actuating means.
11. Discharge apparatus (1) for media, with a discharge actuating means (5) for a discharging means (3), a discharge unit (2) and at least one further actuating means containing two separate actuating members (11, 23) for controlling at least one determination device (20), such as a counting device, which in one operating state can be actuated with the discharge actuating means (5) and has at least two oppositely adjustable control members (43, 45), characterized in that a determination device (20) forms a subassembly separate from the discharge actuating means (5).
12. Discharge apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that the subassembly is mounted in fixed manner with a body (21) on an outer circumference of a discharge unit (2), that in particular the subassembly has on the outer circumference of the body (21) at least one rotation preventing means (29) for at least one of the control members (43) and that preferably the subassembly carries a manual actuating member (23) of one of the actuating means.

Images