EP1330314A1

EP1330314A1 - Fluid product dispenser

Info

Publication number: EP1330314A1
Application number: EP01976400A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Gilles Jourdin
Original assignee: Valois SAS
Current assignee: Aptar France SAS
Priority date: 2000-10-23
Filing date: 2001-10-11
Publication date: 2003-07-30
Anticipated expiration: 2021-10-11
Also published as: US6571991B2; FR2815617A1; BR0114838A; CN1227069C; WO2002034412A1; DE60108261T2; EP1330314B1; FR2815617B1; US20020047026A1; JP2004521724A; CN1471435A; ES2234897T3; DE60108261D1

Abstract

The invention concerns a fluid product dispenser comprising: a container (1) defining a reservoir designed to contain the fluid product, said container being formed with a neck (10) defining an opening (15) communicating the reservoir inside with outside, said neck including an outer peripheral wall (13), a dispensing member (2), such as a pump or a valve, mounted in the neck (10) of the container (1) to extract the fluid product from the reservoir, fixing means (3, 4, 5, 6) for securing the dispensing member on the container neck, said fixing means comprising means for receiving (33) the dispensing member and catching means (36; 6; 48) on the container neck, said fixing means comprising a substantially cylindrical drum (30, 50) extending around the neck. The invention is characterised in that the fixing means comprise a ring (4) arranged around the container neck, and an annular element (36; 6; 48) in contact with the outer wall (13) of the neck, the ring (4) being engaged inside the drum (30, 50) so as to urge the annular element against the neck outer wall.

Description

Fluid dispenser

The present invention relates to a fluid product device comprising a container, a dispensing member such as a pump or a valve and fixing means for fixing the dispensing member to the container. The container generally defines a reservoir intended to contain fluid to be dispensed by the dispensing member. The container is formed with a neck defining an opening in which the dispensing member is fixed by means of fixing means which generally comprise receiving means often by snap-fastening for the dispensing member. In addition, the fixing means comprise means for hooking onto the neck of the container.

Conventionally, the fixing means often comprise a fixing part defining a substantially cylindrical skirt which extends around the neck. It is also conventional to form the neck with a reinforcement which forms a flange going inwards to join a thinner lower part of the neck which is connected to the reservoir by a shoulder.

A well-known fixing technique is to use the skirt to make a fixing below the reinforcement, that is to say at the rim. Several technical solutions of this type are known. One can in particular form the skirt with lugs terminated by snap heads intended to come into engagement below the reinforcement against the rim. To block the legs in position, a hoop is generally used which covers the skirt. Another technique provides for making the skirt continuously and internally making a snap-on cord which is housed below the reinforcement.

In the technique of fixing by lugs and snap-on heads, it is necessary to use a locking hoop. Therefore, it is not possible to mount the hoop before mounting the skirt on a container neck. In the other technique of snap-fastening by continuous skirt and inner cord, it sometimes happens that the attachment is not perfectly secure and it is thus possible to remove the dispensing member manually by pulling on it. We therefore do not provide perfect first-time user safety. The object of the present invention is to remedy the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art by defining a dispenser in which the fixing means are perfectly safe while dispensing with a locking hoop. Consequently, if a hoop is used, it would be a simple covering hoop which could be previously mounted on the skirt even before mounting on the neck of the container.

To do this, the present invention provides that the fixing means comprise a ring arranged around the neck of the container, as well as an annular element in contact with the external wall of the neck, the ring being engaged inside a was formed by the skirt or the hoop so as to urge the annular element against the external wall of the neck. The relative movement of the ring is therefore used to urge, or even press, the annular element against the external wall of the neck. In the case where the annular element is strongly pressed by jamming by the ring, this annular element can serve as a sealing element in the same way as a neck seal. It is precisely the grip of the ring inside the barrel which allows the relative movement between these two parts to bring the annular element into contact with the external wall of the neck.

The annular element may form part of the skirt or of the ring in the form of a deformable part urged by the ring or the skirt in contact with the external wall of the neck. When the skirt realizes the deformable part, it is the ring which will serve as a cam to urge this deformable part against the external wall of the neck, and when it is the ring which forms the deformable part, it is the skirt which will solicit the ring against the outer wall of the neck. The biasing of the skirt or the ring can be done by a cam system.

As a variant, the annular element may be a separate deformable piece, for example in the form of an O-ring placed between the skirt, the ring and the external wall of the neck.

The engagement of the ring inside the skirt or the hoop can be done by various techniques, and in particular by screwing, tightening, snap-fastening or harpooning. The latter technique allows an irreversible grip, so that the fixation is final. According to one embodiment, the neck comprises rotation blocking means for blocking the ring in rotation around the neck. Locking the rotating ring is particularly necessary when the connection between the ring and the skirt is made by screwing. It is indeed necessary to block the ring on the neck in order to be able to screw the skirt onto the ring without driving it in rotation.

On the other hand, when the connection between the ring and the skirt is made by harpooning, it is necessary to block the ring in translation on the neck in order to be able to fit the skirt on the ring. For this purpose, the ring can bear with its lower end on the container. More specifically, the ring bears on the container at the level where the neck joins the body of the reservoir.

According to another characteristic, the skirt can be provided with a covering in contact with the skirt at the level of the ring. Since the outer wall of the skirt is not deformed during the movement of the ring, it is possible to mount the covering band on the skirt even before it is mounted on the neck of a container.

The invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings which give several embodiments of the invention by way of non-limiting example. In the drawings: - figure la is a vertical cross-section view through a fluid dispenser according to a first embodiment of the invention, - figure lb is an enlarged view of the part of the dispenser of figure la showing the attachment to the neck, - Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view through a fluid dispenser according to a second embodiment of the invention, Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view along the line BB of figure 2, Figure 4 is a partial view in vertical cross section through a fluid dispenser according to a third embodiment of the invention, Figure 5 is a view similar to that of Figure 4 for a fourth embodiment of the invention, and

- Figure 6 is a view similar to those of Figures 4 and 5 for a fifth embodiment of the invention.

In all of the embodiments shown in the figures, the fluid dispenser is only partially represented, since the reservoir is not visible. It is shown only the upper part of the container which forms a neck 10 forming an opening 15 in which extends a dispensing member, here a pump 2. The dispensing member could very well have been a valve. The neck 10 of the container 1 defines an outer peripheral wall 13.

The pump 2 is fixed in the opening 15 of the neck 10 using fixing means 3. These fixing means comprise a fixing piece 3 defining a snap-on housing 33 in which a flange 22 formed by the body 20 of pump 2 is engaged. The latching housing 33 is formed with a central opening through which extends the actuating rod 23 of the pump 2. A pusher 24 optionally provided with a nozzle 25 is mounted on the actuating rod 23. A the other end of the pump body 20 is provided with an inlet sleeve 21 on which a dip tube which may extend as far as the bottom of the container tank 1 can optionally be fitted. The latching housing 33 extends then outwards to define an annular flange 32 which comes to bear on the upper end of the neck 10. The fixing piece 3 is extended on the outer periphery of the radial flange 32 downwards by a skirt 30 which comes surround the neck 10. For aesthetic reasons, the skirt 30 can extend downwards practically until it comes into contact with the container 1.

So far, this is a completely classic design for a fluid dispenser. In all the embodiments, the neck 10 of the container 1 is formed with a reinforcement 11 which projects outwards. This reinforcement 11 forms a re-entrant flange which makes it possible to join the thinner lower part of the neck 10 which is connected to the reservoir by forming a shoulder 16. The external peripheral wall 13 of the neck 10 is formed by the external surface of the reinforcement 11 as well as the ledge 12.

According to the invention, the fixing means comprise, in addition to the fixing part 3, a ring 4 which also extends around the neck 10 inside the skirt 30. The ring 4 is engaged inside of the skirt 30, either by screwing or by harpooning.

According to the invention, the fixing means comprise, in addition to the fixing part 3 and the ring 4, an annular element which is in contact with the external peripheral wall 13 of the neck 10. In other words, the annular element is in contact with either the reinforcement 11 or the rim 12. According to the invention, the ring 4 engaged in the skirt 30 urges the annular element in contact against the external wall of the neck 10. This is the basic principle of the present invention.

We will now refer more particularly to FIGS. 1a and 1b to explain the first embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the ring 4 is engaged in harpooning in the skirt 30. As can be seen more clearly in FIG. 1b, the ring 4 is formed with a body

40 surmounted by a head 41.

Harpooning reliefs 44 are formed on the external wall of the body 40 of the ring 4 in order to bite into the internal wall of the skirt 30. The orientation of the harpooning reliefs 44 authorizes a unidirectional movement of the ring

4 in the skirt 30, namely upwards. It is indeed impossible to lower the ring 4 into the skirt 30.

The annular element is formed here by a deformable part 36 defined by the skirt 30. The deformable part 36 extends all around the neck 10 or only by segment or in the form of lugs. The deformable part 36 comprises a body 361 which ends with a head 360. In the initial state (not shown) the ring 4 is only partially engaged in the skirt 30 so that the deformable part 36 can extend along the skirt 30 in alignment with the ring 4. The head 41 of the ring 4 is then just in below the head 360 of the deformable part 36. In this configuration, it is then possible to engage the fixing means 3 on the neck 10 of the container 1 without difficulty, since the deformable part 36 does not project inwards . As soon as the lower end 46 of the ring 4 comes into contact with the container 1, additional pressure on the fastening means 3 causes the ring 4 to move in the skirt 30 by moving up inside of it. The head 41 of the ring 4 is formed with an inclined cam surface 42 which allows the head 41 to engage below the head 360 of the deformable part 36. The engagement of the head 41 between the head 360 and the skirt 30 has the effect of moving the head 360 inwards, that is to say under the reinforcement 11, below the rim 12. By continuing to press on the fixing means 3, the ring 4 continues to s' engage inside the skirt 30 until its head 41 snaps onto the head 360 of the deformable part 36 at a mutual notch 43. The ring 4 is then engaged as far as possible inside of the skirt 30, which is shown in FIG. 1a and in an enlarged view in FIG. 1b. In this position, the head 360 is biased inwards, but also a part of the body 361 which is arranged at an angle so that its outer wall comes into contact pressed against the flange 12 at its junction with the reinforcement 11. When the deformable part 36 is formed continuously around the neck, the contact of the deformable part 36 with the lower edge of the reinforcement 11 takes place continuously over the entire periphery of the neck, which at the same time makes a fixing solid and effective sealing. It should be noted that in this embodiment (continuous deformable part), it is possible to dispense with a neck seal interposed between the flange 32 and the upper end of the neck 10.

It should be noted that in this embodiment, it is possible to dispense with the harpooning profiles 44, since the head 41 is snapped onto the head 360. It is for this reason alone impossible to move the ring 4 in the opposite direction from way to extract it from the skirt 30. The harpooning reliefs are only means additional to improve the attachment of the ring 4 inside the skirt 30.

It should also be noted that the fixing means 3 are covered by a covering hoop 5 which is in the form of a cylindrical body 50 terminated at its upper end by a re-entrant flap 51 which bears on the end of the sleeve 31. The cylindrical body 50 of the covering hoop 5 is in contact with the skirt 30 at the level of the ring 4. It can be noted that the movement of the ring 4 inside the skirt 30 does not not cause radial deformation towards the outside of the skirt 30, as is the case with the prior art fixing techniques described above. It is therefore possible to mount the covering 5 on the fixing means 3 before mounting the fixing means on the neck of a container. We can therefore deliver the assembly consisting of the ring and fixing means covered by the covering 5 in the assembled state. It then only remains to fill the container and to assemble in one piece the fixing means with the pump and the covering 5.

Reference will now be made to FIGS. 2 and 3 to describe a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the fixing means 3 also form a latching receiving housing 33 for the body 20 of the pump 2 as well as a skirt 30 which extends over the outside of the neck 10 formed with a reinforcement 11 and a re-entrant flange 12. Here again, the fixing means comprise a ring 4 engaged inside the skirt 30 as well as an annular element 6 interposed between the ring 4 and the skirt 30.

In this embodiment, the connection between the ring 4 and the skirt 30 is a threaded connection so that the ring 4 is screwed inside the skirt 30. The annular element 6 is in the form of a separate deformable part disposed between the ring 4, the skirt 30 and the external wall 13 of the neck 10. More specifically, the annular element 6, which here acts as a fixing and sealing joint, is compressed between the end upper part of the ring 4 and the skirt 30 so as to be stressed under stress against the external wall 13 of the neck 10 where it forms a seal. The annular element 6 is housed in a recess partially formed by the skirt 30 and in which the end upper part of the ring 4 penetrates to reduce the volume of the housing and thus compress the annular element which is inserted in this housing. It is easy to understand that the screwing of the ring 4 in the skirt 30 has the effect of compressing the annular element 3 which is thus urged strongly against the external wall 13 of the neck 10.

In the initial state, it suffices that the ring 4 does not stress the annular element 6 so that it is possible to engage the fixing means 3 on the neck of a container without difficulty. Then, simply screw the skirt 30 onto the ring 4 to raise the ring 4 inside the skirt 30 and thus compress the annular element 6. For this, it is necessary to fix the ring 4 in rotation. the neck 10. To this end, the neck 10 forms blocking means in the form of two ribs 14 which extend under the reinforcement 11 of the neck even more projecting outwards. The ring 4 has two deep indentations in which the two ribs 14 are engaged. The indentations of the ring 4 extend deeply so as to leave only a continuous collar 46 which is positioned above the ribs 14 as can be seen in FIG. 2. In this way, the ring 4 is locked in rotation around the neck 10. The ring 30 can then be screwed onto the ring without risk of causing it to rotate.

In this embodiment, the support on the container with the lower end of the ring is replaced by its blocking in rotation using the reinforcements 14.

It should be noted that in this embodiment, the leaktight fixing on the neck is carried out at the level of the cylindrical external wall of the neck, and not at the level of its shoulder 12, so that the neck can be produced without a book 11. On will now refer to FIG. 4 to explain another embodiment. In this embodiment, which is substantially similar to that of FIG. 2, the annular element 6 is in the form of a separate deformable part 6 interposed between the ring 4, the skirt 30 and the external wall 13 of the neck 10. The annular element 6 is here in the form of a cylindrical seal housed in a recess formed by the skirt 30 and open at the bottom so that the ring 4 can penetrate into the recess so as to urge the element 6 in tight pressed contact against the external surface 13 of the neck 10. It can be seen that the annular element 6 cooperates not only with the cylindrical wall of the reinforcement 11 but also with the flange 12 so that the annular element 6 extends radially inwards below the reinforcement 11.

In this embodiment, the ring 4 is not screwed inside the ring 30 as in the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3, but the ring 4 is engaged by a harpooned plug inside the ring 30. For this purpose, the outer wall of the ring 4 is formed with harpooning reliefs 44 adapted to bite into the internal wall of the skirt 30. The upper end of the ring 4 is formed with a cam surface 42 which is inclined inwards so as to urge the annular element 6 below the reinforcement 11 at the level of the rim 12.

Again, the movement of the ring 4 inside the skirt 30 is done by pressing on the container 1 at the lower end 46 of the ring 4. The mode of movement of the ring 4 in the skirt 30 is therefore the same as that of FIGS. 1a and 1b.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown a fourth embodiment, in which the ring 4 forms the annular element designated here under the reference numeral 48. The ring 4 is formed with a deformable upper part 48, the upper end 49 engages below the reinforcement 11 at the level of the rim 12. To request the deformation of the part 48 of the ring 4 below the reinforcement 11, the skirt 30 is formed with a cam surface 38 along which the upper end 48 of the ring 4 is deformed as the ring 4 rises in the skirt 30 by pressing its lower end 46 against the shoulder of the container 1. It is essential here that the ring 4 is dimensioned so specifies so that its upper end 49 can come into contact under the rim 12 while its lower end 46 is in contact with the shoulder of the container. In this embodiment, the connection between the ring 4 and the skirt 30 is also an irreversible harpooned connection. A fifth embodiment shown in FIG. 6 differs from the previous embodiments in that the ring 4 is engaged in the covering hoop 5 by radial tightening. The ring is housed between the hoop and the skirt. The ring comprises a cam 42 adapted to deform a part 36 of the skirt inwards below the reinforcement, bearing against the flange. The ring also bears with its lower end on the shoulder of the container to move it inside the hoop.

It should be noted that the mode of engagement (screwed or harpooned) between the ring and the skirt 30 can be interchanged in each embodiment described. The principle of the invention is to move a ring inside the skirt or the hoop so as to urge an element against the external wall of the neck. The movement of the ring can be done by pressing on the shoulder of the container or by locking in rotation on the neck of the container. The element which comes into contact with the external wall of the neck can be either a part of the skirt, a part of the ring or even an additional part.

Claims

claims

1.- A fluid dispenser comprising: a container (1) defining a reservoir intended to contain fluid, said container being formed with a neck (10) defining an opening (15) communicating the interior of the reservoir with the outside, said neck comprising an outer peripheral wall (13), a dispensing member (2), such as a pump or a valve, mounted in the neck (10) of the container (1) for extracting fluid from the reservoir, fixing means (3, 4, 5, 6) for fixing the dispensing member to the neck of the container, said fixing means comprising receiving means (33) for the dispensing member and hooking means (36; 6; 48) on the neck of the container, said fixing means comprising a substantially cylindrical barrel (30, 50) which extends around the neck, characterized in that the fixing means comprise a ring

(4) arranged around the neck of the container, as well as an annular element (36;

6; 48) in contact with the external wall (13) of the neck, the ring (4) being engaged inside the barrel (30, 50) so as to urge the annular element against the external wall of the neck.

2. A fluid dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the fixing means comprise a fixing part (3) defining the receiving means (33) and a skirt (30) extending around the external wall (13 ) from the neck, the skirt (30) forming the barrel in which the ring (4) is engaged.

3. A fluid dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the fixing means comprise a fixing part (3) defining a skirt (30) and a covering band (5) extending around the skirt (30 ), the hoop forming the barrel in which the ring (4) is engaged.

4. A fluid dispenser according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the annular element is a separate deformable piece (6) disposed between the skirt (30), the ring (4) and the outer wall (13) of the neck. .

5. A fluid dispenser according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the annular element is formed by a deformable part (36) of the skirt (30).

6. A fluid dispenser according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the annular element is formed by a deformable part (48) of the ring (4).

7. A fluid dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the connection between the ring (4) and the barrel (30, 50) is a threaded connection.

8. A fluid dispenser according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the grip between the ring (4) and the barrel (30, 50) is a harpooned grip.

9. A fluid dispenser according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the connection between the ring (4) and the barrel (30, 50) is a tight grip.

10. A fluid dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the external wall (13) of the neck forms a re-entrant flange (12) inwards, the annular element (36; 6; 48) being pressed against this rim (12).

11. A fluid dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the ring (4) forms a cam (42) to urge the annular element (36) against the outer wall (13) of the neck.

12. A fluid dispenser according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the skirt (30) forms a cam (38) to urge the annular element (48) against the external wall (13) of the neck.

13. A fluid dispenser according to claim 7, wherein the neck (10) comprises rotation blocking means (14) for blocking the ring (4) in rotation around the neck.

14. A fluid dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the ring (4) bears with its lower end (46) on the container (1).

15. A fluid dispenser according to claim 2, wherein the skirt (30) is provided with a covering (5) in contact with the skirt at the level of the ring.

16. A fluid dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the annular element is a sealing element ensuring a peripheral seal at the neck of the container.

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