ES2298714T3 - FOAM DISPENSER - Google Patents

Abstract

A dispenser for dispensing a mixture of two or more fluids, for example liquid and gas such as a foam and / or misting, the dispenser comprising a flexible container for a liquid that includes a conduit having first and second end portions, the first terminating end portion in an opening in the container through which the mixture is ejected from the container and the second end portion being near the base of said container, wherein the conduit includes a third end portion open which is located near the top of the container and laterally inclined or opposite to the second open end portion, in which the third open end portion extends from an upper section of the conduit, and characterized in that the conduit has a configuration in the form of T at the top, and the third open end portion is orthogonally separated from a main section of the duct .

Description

Foam dispenser

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The present invention relates to dispensers that dispense a mixture of fluids, particularly but not exclusively portable dispensers that dispense, under pressure, foam of a mixture of fluids, for example gas and liquid.

The term "portable" as used here is intended to mean hand held dispensers, preferably dispensers that can be fastened with only one hand, such as commercially available dispensers for deodorants, shaving foam or liquid compositions of cleaning. The invention is also suitable for dispensers. large laptops, which cannot be held with just one hand.

Foam dispensers are known for Dispense a mixture of liquid and gas as a foam. Like a common feature, comprise a container and a lid of dispensing, said lid comprising a dispensing opening which, at least during the dispensation, is in open connection with the upper end of a flow pipe (known as a pipe submerged), whose opposite end is located near the part bottom of the container. Liquid and gas are pushed out of the dispensing opening together due to pressure difference between the inside and outside of the container. Conveniently, the pressurized gas in the containers is air but it can be another gas suitable. Increased or "positive" internal pressure (with relation to external pressure) is permanent in containers pressurized For non-pressurized vessels the internal pressure can be reduced / increased manually and temporarily with a pump system to drag air into the container and then eject it. Some pump systems increase the pressure internal enough to provide a multitude of operations of dispensing Other pump systems, for example those that form  part of various pump dispensing heads or caps, increase internal pressure as part of the operation of dispensing Examples of such dispensing systems are spray trigger heads. Dispensers of this and similar class are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6053364, 5271530, 5443569, and DE 108613, on which the preamble of claim 1. A problem with such spray trigger head dispensers is that they are expensive and are not economical in the use of plastic resources.

Dispensing systems of nebulization that work by hand squeezing a flexible wall container filled with liquid or "bottle squeezable. "Such containers are used to dispense a fogging or spraying. Manual compression of the container increases the internal pressure in the head space on the liquid, forcing the liquid to ascend through the submerged tube and to be ejected from the container.

Due to the hole configuration of lid dispensing and / or the use of two-dimensional structures, The liquid can be ejected as a spray.

An exemplary embodiment of such a dispenser is shown in U.S. Patent 2642313, published in 1953

Known foam dispensers are sold or nebulization with a solution inside the container and a mesh flat or net in the flow path of the liquid to form the fogging However, such foaming elements they can be expensive to manufacture and are often not very efficient for Create a desired thick foam.

The present invention seeks to resolve or at least reduce the problems mentioned above by provision of a cost-effective simple foam dispenser that does not requires complicated foaming elements in the trajectory of liquid flow, that is, somewhere in the submerged tube that transports the liquid from the bottom of a container towards the lid of the container or on the tube submerged in the lid of the container.

Therefore, the invention provides a dispenser to dispense a mixture of two or more fluids, by example liquid and gas (for example air) as a foam and / or fogging, the dispenser comprising the characteristics of claim 1

This provision provides a cost-effective foam dispenser that does not require foam elements  complicated in the flow path of the liquid. A mix of fluids, for example liquid and air, can be expelled from the container simply by squeezing the container. The provision of openings in the top and bottom of the container allows the device work whether it is oriented vertically (part upper on the base) or inverted.

Additionally, since the second and second openings third duct are inclined mutually laterally or opposite, the device also works when tilted sideways.

The duct may be branched, curved or curled up or a combination of these for orientation relative of the second and third end portions of conduit.

The duct may be curved or screwed in a section, for example middle section or higher, as for tip the second open end portion between 10-60 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the container, preferably 15-45 degrees, more preferably 15-30 degrees, even more preferably 20 degrees.

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The third open end portion is extends from an upper section (that is, towards the part top of the container when oriented vertically) of the duct, for example at right angles.

The duct has a configuration in the form of T at the top, in which the third open portion of end is orthogonally separated from a main section of the duct, preferably generally aligned longitudinal.

The upper part of the duct may be Offset of the central longitudinal axis.

The duct may be in the form of or include a submerged tube that can cooperate with a closure or lid of container also provided.

The container can be flexible by means of one or more flexible portions, and the invention is not restricted to an entirely flexible container. Rigid sections, for example the base, the corners, etc., can be included, for example, to increase resistance.

A dispenser of this invention may have any form suitable for portability and handling, without excluding any form.

The lid of the dispenser of the invention can be anyway, aimed at the function of closing the container after it has been filled with the liquid and allow it to be dispensed.

The parts of the dispenser can be made of any material suitable for this purpose. A majority, yes not all, of the parts are properly made of polymeric material

The dispensers according to the invention can be used for any liquid intended to be dispensed as a foam or nebulization. Some examples are: edible liquids such as cream or milk, paint or cleaning liquids. They are particularly suitable for dispensing cleaning liquids such as a foam. Such cleaning liquids generally contain a foaming surfactant, preferably in completely dissolved form. They may also contain other components known in the art as components of cleaning liquids. They may even contain solid particulate matter as long as it is in stable suspension in the
liquid.

However, cleaning liquids are preferred They do not contain any undissolved solid matter.

Realizations are outlined below. Limitations of the invention with reference to the drawings here attached.

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of An embodiment of the invention.

Referring to figure 1, a dispenser 1 to dispense a mixture of two or more fluids 2, 4, for example liquid 2 and gas, that is, air 4 as a foam and / or fogging The dispenser 1 comprises a flexible container 6 to contain the liquid and includes a conduit 8 comprising a submerged tube 8a having first and second portions 11, 12 of end, finishing the first end portion 11 in a opening in the container 6 through which the mixture 2, 4 is ejected from the container and the second portion being open 12 of end near base 14 of said container 6, wherein the conduit 8 includes a third open end portion 13 which it is located near the top 16 of the container 6 e inclined laterally or opposite to the second open portion 12 of extreme.

This provision provides a cost-effective foam dispenser that does not require complicated elements  of foaming in the flow path of the liquid. A mix of fluids, for example liquid and air, can be expelled from the container simply by squeezing the container. The provision of openings in the top and bottom of the container allows the device works whether it is oriented vertically (with central longitudinal axis in vertical, and the upper part on the base) or inverted (the base on the top).

Additionally, since the second and second openings third 12, 13 duct are opposite laterally, the Dispenser 1 also works when laterally tilted.

The duct is screwed or bent (in Y) generally in its upper section 18, as to tilt the second open portion 12 end approximately 20 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the container 6.

The third open end portion 13 is extends from an upper section 18 (i.e. towards the part top of the container when oriented vertically) of the conduit 8, for example at right angles. The duct may have tea configuration (T-shape) at the top, in which the third open end portion is orthogonally separated from a main section of the duct, preferably aligned so generally longitudinal.

The conduit comprises a tube submerged in cooperation with the closure 20 of the container having an opening 22 dispensing.

The container is flexible by means of a 24 portion of generally flexible body. However, certain sections, for example base 26 and optionally portions of corner, can have an increased stiffness, for example to increase resistance

The parts of the dispenser can be made of any material suitable for this purpose. A majority, yes not all, of the parts are properly made of polymeric material

In use, the dispenser 1 is filled with liquid 2 to leave an air header space 4. The container is then simply compressed by squeezing body portion 24 to expel the liquid / air mixture from the container.

It will be clear to one skilled in the art, with the help of the text and the figures presented here, that there are many possible alternative embodiments allowed by this invention without leaving the scope of protection provided by the following claims.

Claims (15)

1. A dispenser for dispensing a mixture of two or more fluids, for example liquid and gas such as a foam and / or misting, the dispenser comprising a flexible container for a liquid that includes a conduit having first and second end portions, terminating the first end portion in an opening in the container through which the mixture is ejected from the container and the second end portion being near the base of said container, wherein the conduit includes a third end portion open which is located near the top of the container and laterally inclined or opposite to the second open end portion, in which the third open end portion extends from an upper section of the conduit, and characterized in that the conduit has a configuration in T-shape at the top, and the third open end portion is orthogonally separated from a main section of the conduit cto. 2. Dispenser according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means for manually pressurizing the container. 3. Dispenser according to any preceding claim, wherein the duct is branched, curled or curled or a combination of these to effect the relative orientation of the second and third end portions duct 4. Dispenser according to any preceding claim, wherein the conduit is curved or screwed into a section, for example middle or upper section, as to tip the second open end portion between 10-60 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the container, preferably 15-45 degrees, more preferably 15-30 degrees, even more preferably 20 degrees. 5. Dispenser according to claim 4, in which the duct is screwed 20 degrees in a section higher. 6. Dispenser according to any preceding claim, wherein the upper part of the duct It is aligned with the central longitudinal axis. 7. Dispenser according to any of the claims 1-6, wherein the upper part of the duct is offset from the central longitudinal axis. 8. Dispenser according to any preceding claim, wherein the conduit is in the form of or includes a submerged tube that cooperates with a closure or lid of container. 9. Dispenser according to any preceding claim, in combination with a liquid, wherein the liquid can be an edible liquid such as cream or milk, or a surface treatment liquid, for example paint or cleaning fluid. 10. Dispenser according to claim 9, characterized in that the liquid is a cleaning liquid comprising a foaming surfactant. 11. Dispenser according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the cleaning liquid does not contain any undissolved solids. 12. Dispenser of any claim above, in which the dispenser is filled to less than 95% of its internal volume with the liquid. 13. Dispenser of claim 9 or 10, which additionally includes instructions for use. 14. A method of dispensing a foam or fogging using a dispenser according to any of the claims 1-11, the dispenser containing a liquid and understanding the step of squeezing the dispenser to expel the liquid as a foam or mist. 15. A method of treating or cleaning a surface with a foam or fog using a dispenser or combination according to any of the claims 1-11, the dispenser containing a composition of Cleaning or surface treatment.