GB2219352A

GB2219352A - A pressurised container with a valve actuating cap

Info

Publication number: GB2219352A
Application number: GB8909093A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Antonin Goncalves
Original assignee: LOreal SA
Current assignee: LOreal SA
Priority date: 1988-06-03
Filing date: 1989-04-21
Publication date: 1989-12-06
Anticipated expiration: 2009-04-21
Also published as: JPH0226665A; IT1234784B; DE3918313A1; IT8967432A0; FR2632280A1; GB8909093D0; CH678845A5; FR2632280B1; ES2025860A6; NL8901217A; GB2219352B

Description

!) (; - i 5 r) 11 ' 19%_1 A- ;. - 4 - 1 A PRESSURISED CONTAINER ALLOWING

THE PRODUCT CONTAINED THEREIN TO BE DISPENSED IN CONVENIENT OPERATING CONDITIONS The present invention concerns pressurised containers of the "aerosol can" type used for the storage and the dispensing of products in the state of a paste, a liquid, a foam or an aerosol.

The pressurised containers are provided with a dispensing valve allowing the user, when he actuates an actuating element associated with the valve, to cause a dose of the product to be dispensed through an ejection duct intended to cause the interior of the container to communicate with the outside when the valve is open; the ejection duct is formed in a movable part fixed to the actuating element and fitted at the outlet end of the container for cooperating with the movable element of the dispensing valve. Generally speaking, the actuating element of a known container of this type is constituted by a push button and, where the movable element of the dispensing valve is constituted by an outlet stem emerging from the container, that movable part comprises a sleeve by means of which it is fitted to the outlet stem and which carries the associated push button.

The products capable of being thus dispensed from containers of the abovementioned type are in particular cosmetic products, hygiene products and household cleaning materials. In the fields of body care, and hair care, these products may be, for example, foaming shaving creams, shaving gels which may possibly be self foaming, hair dyes, neutralizers for cold permanent waves, shampoos, depilatories, and make-up removal foams, packaged in pressurised cans.

To prevent loss of the movable part, of which the push button forms part, it has already been proposed that this movable part should form part of a dispensing head 2 which also comprises a fixed part by means of which it is fitted to the upper portion of the container. The fixed part can, in particular, comprise a peripheral skirt which comes to be catch-engaged at its lower edge in a groove of the container formed under the crimped bead of the valve carrier cup, and joined to an annular top. This top surmounts the peripheral edge of the valve carrier cup and is advantageously provided with ribs intended to bear on the cup. The movable part of the dispensing head comes to be accommodated in the opening delimited by the internal edge of the annular top and is articulated by a film hinge to a zone of said edge, the push button being constituted, on the side remote from this film hinge, by a lateral extension of the sleeve formed at the centre of the movable part for enabling the movable part to be fitted to the emergent valve stem. In the case where the product is intended to be applied to a base, for example in the case of hair care products, provision can be made for the sleeve to be extended in an elongate end fitting.

With such a structure, the manipulation of the push button does not permit a strictly axial depression of the outlet stem of the valve for opening the valve. Repeated actions on the push button can lead to a rapid deterioration of the valve, and even a breakdown in operation, with the result that the defective pressurised container must be discarded, even though it has been emptied.

To overcome this disadvantage, it has been proposed that the dispensing head should be made of two separate parts, that is to say a fixed part and a movable part, the movable part being mounted for sliding in a leakproof manner in the fixed part when the push button is pressed. In these conditions, the guidance of the movable part in relation to the fixed part along the axis of the container or parallel to this axis, avoids all the problems of the 3 bending of the valve tube.

However, although damage to the valves can thus be avoided, it has been found that the pressurised containers were in certain cases inconvenient to use, for example in the case where they are intended for the streak-by-streak application and spreading of a hair care product to a head of hair. In fact, in this case, the consumer or the hairdresser must keep the index finger on the push button whilst holding the container in his or her hand and appiopriately directing it for applying the product. Moreover, the presence of the dispensing end fitting near the push button causes the nails to break, which is particularly noticeable in the case of professional hairdressers.

The present invention provides a solution for this problem and proposes that the conventional push button should be replaced by an actuating means with freer and easier access, having the additional advantage of requiring less force for its handling and, moreover, retaining the advantage of an axial manipulation of the valve stem.

For this purpose, it is now proposed that the actuating means associated with a dispensing head of the type comprising a fixed part and a movable part is constituted by two actuating levers fixed to two lateral zones of the movable part which is articulated by means of hinges, on the one hand at the external edge in relation to the fixed part, and on the other hand at the inner edge in relation to a central zone of the movable part carrying the means for connection to the movable element of the valve.

The tilting of the above-mentioned two lateral zones inwardly of the dispensing head, produced by bringing the upper portions of the two levers closer to each other, involves the axial depression of the central zone and consequently the opening of the valve whose movable element is fixed for translation with the above-mentioned 4 connecting means.

This type of structure advantageously constitutes a dispensing head moulded from a single component made of a flexible plastic material; the hinges are then film 5 hinges.

Access to the actuating levers is freer and easier than in the case of a dispensing head of the prior art. In fact, the orientation of the container is less precise than in the case where the index finger of one hand has to come to bear on a push button; as will be illustrated and described below, the actuating levers are reached by the user without the need for unduly modifying the positions of the fingers of the hand that has gripped the container. Since the levers are situated on either side of the dispensing end fitting, and since they are actuated by lateral pressure from the outside, the hand does not contact the end fitting and thus the problem of broken nails encountered with push button containers of the prior art is avoided. This lateral lever actuation also ensures a reduction in the force, thus rendering less tiring the dispensing action which is already simpler, more readily evident and more convenient.

Accordingly the present invention provides a pressurised container for storing a product and dispensing it by manipulation of an actuating means to open a dispensing valve on the outlet of the container by depressing a movable element of the valve towards the inside of the container, including:- a dispensing head mounted on the outlet of the said container by means of a fixed part, said dispensing head comprising a movable part which is joined to the fixed part by articulation means and has means for connecting the head to the movable valve element, said connecting means being traversed by an ejection duct communicating the interior of the container with the exterior when the actuating element is manipulated, the movable part of said dispensing head comprising a median zone which carries the connecting means and two opposed lateral zones which are each joined to the median zone by a central hinge zone, these two central hinge zones being parallel to each other and orthogonal to the axis of ejection of the product from the container, wherein in the rest position each said lateral zone is in a plane perpendicular to the above-mentioned ejection axis and is joined to the fixed part of the dispensing head by two lateral hinge zones disposed parallel to the central hinge zones, and wherein said actuating means are constituted by two levers disposed on either side of said ejection axis and each carried by one of said lateral zones near the lateral hinge zone connecting it to the fixed part, the tilting of said levers producing tilting of said lateral zones around the lateral hinge zones and consequently translation of said central zone in a direction corresponding to depression of the movable valve element.

Preferably, the connecting means are extended by a dispensing end fitting whose free end is situated outside the manipulating space of the levers. in one particular embodiment the dispensing end fitting is disposed along the axis of ejection of the product out of the container.

Moreover, the dispensing head is advantageously moulded from a single piece of a flexible plastic material, the hinge zones then being constituted by film hinges. These film hinges are, for example, constituted by wall zones whose thickness is reduced by the creation of grooves.

The levers may be symmetrical in relation to the axis of ejection of the product out of the container.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the dispensing head is constituted by a peripheral skirt for fastening it to the container, said skirt being joined to a top surmounting the valve carrier cup and carrying the 6 movable part of the dispensing head, and radial ribs are carried by the skirt and the top and come to bear on the edge of the valve carrier cup when the dispensing head is mounted on the container body.

The movable part can be formed between two mutually parallel slots in the top on either side of the ejection axis and perpendicular to the hinge zones, the hinge zones for connection between the lateral zones and the central zone of the movable part each extending from one slot to the other.

In this case where the movable element of the valve is constituted by an emergent outlet tube, the means for connecting the movable part of the dispensing head to the said outlet tube is advantageously constituted by a sleeve is with a bevelled inlet.

Moreover, it is useful for the pressurised container of the invention to comprise a removable protective cap having its peripheral skirt able to bear on a shoulder of the peripheral skirt of the dispensing head 20 with sufficient friction to hold the cap in place.

To render the object of the invention more readily understood, an embodiment represented in the accompanying drawings will now be described by way of a purely illustrative and non-restrictive example. In these 25 drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a pressurised container according to the invention, without its protective cap, and showing the hand of the user in dots and dashes, in the ready-to-use position for the action of 30 dispensing a product dose; FIGURE 2 is an axial cross-section of the upper portion of the container of Figure 1, provided with its protective cap, this axial cross-section being taken along the plane of symmetry passing through the actuating levers 35 carried by the dispensing head; and 7 FIGURE 3 is a cross-section taken along line IIIIII of Figure 2.

If reference is made to the attached drawings, there will be seen a pressurised container, generally designated 1, of the "aerosol can" type wherein a hair dye is stored which is intended to be dispensed in the form of a foam from the outlet of the container 1 and to be applied to the head of hair streak-by-streak.

The container 1 comprises a body 2 having a lateral cylindrical wall 3 on the upper end edge of which is fixed a valve carrier cup, by means of crimping. In the central zone of the valve carrier cup there is a valve provided with an emergent outlet tube or stem 4. The valve carrier cup, the valve, and its outlet tube 4 are only schematically represented in elevation in the drawing, since they are entirely conventional in structure.

If the outlet tube of the valve is depressed, the contents of the container 1 are exposed to the atmosphere and then projected out of the container under the effect of the propellant gas present in the container, with the simultaneous production of foam due to a partial dissolution of the propellant gas in the liquid phase inside the container 1.

A dispensing head 5 moulded as a single piece and made of a relatively flexible plastic material, has been fitted on the body 2. The dispensing head 5 is constituted by a cylindrical peripheral skirt 6 joined to a flat top 7 having a central opening 8 surrounded by an axial tube directed towards the opposite side from the skirt 6. The portion of the tube which is connected to the central opening 8 is a sleeve joining the head 5 to the valve stem 4 and has its elongate end portion constituting an axial dispensing end fitting 9.

Internally near its free edge, the skirt 6 has an interrupted retaining ring 10 which, when the head 5 is 8 fitted in position on the body 2, becomes catch-engaged inside the peripheral groove 11 resulting from the crimping of the valve carrier cup to the lateral wall of the container body 2. Moreover, near its connection to the flat top 7, the skirt 6 has an annular inward set back 12 which, in the fitted position of the head 5, is substantially at the level of the upper edge of the valve carrier cup.

The dispensing head 5 also comprises -several radial ribs 13 joined to the flat top 7, and to the portion 14 of the skirt 6 between the set back 12 and the flat top 7. When the head 5 becomes secured to the body 2 these ribs 13 bear on the upper peripheral edge of the valve carrier cup.

The sleeve for joining the head 5 to the valve stem 4 is delimited by an internal wall 15 which is cylindrical in shape in the region above the upper wall of the top 7 and which ends in a chamfered wall 16 flaring outwardly in a direction towards the container. The above-mentioned sleeve and the dispensing end fitting 9 are separated internally by an annular shoulder 17, whose end face associated with the sleeve constitutes a stop for the upper edge of the valve stem 4 in the fitted position of the head 5 on the body 2. In this position, where the valve outlet tube 4 passes through the central opening 8, the ejection duct of the valve stem 4 issues in this space delimited by the cylindrical internal edge 18 of the shoulder 17, this space opening into the axial duct 19 delimited by the internal cylindrical wall of the end fitting 9. The external wall of the end fitting 9 tapers slightly towards the free end of the fitting to permit more accurate application of the dispensed substance over the head of hair.

As shown in Figure 3, in the wall of the top 7, on either side of the end fitting 9 and equidistantly therefrom, are two straight mutually parallel slots 20 of 9 equal length, each terminating at its two ends in a point situated near the edge of the top 7 equidistantly therefrom.

on its internal wall the top 7 also comprises two pairs of V-shaped grooves 21 and 22 respectively, which are formed on either side of the opening 8, perpendicular to the slots 20, immediately adjacent to the short cylindrical skirt 23 surrounding the opening 8 on the inner side. Each of the grooves 21 extends from one slot 20 to the other.

The grooves 22 are parallel to the grooves 21, and are on either side of the pair of grooves 21 and outside the -rectangular zone of the top 7 whose two longitudinal sides are formed by the two slots 20. The two grooves 22 which are shorter than the grooves 21 are also symmetrical in is relation to the diametral line of the top 7 parallel to the slots 20.

The grooves 21 and 22 define thin zones 24 and 25 respectively of the top 7, which, as will be described below, serve as film hinges in the actuation of the valve of the container 1.

The dispensing head 5 also comprises actuating means for the container valve, which means are constituted by two actuating levers 26 carried externally by the top 7 and substantially perpendicular to the stop. These levers are symmetrical in relation to that diametral plane of the head 5 which is perpendicular to the slots 20. -Each of them is situated between two adjoining film hinges 24 and in the immediate vicinity of the film hinge 25 and extends substantially from one slot 20 to the other. Each lever 26 has a height substantially equal to one third that of the end fitting 9.

The container 1 is completed by a removable cap 31 intended to protect the dispensing head 5 when the container 1 is being stored or is not in use. The cap 31, made of a relatively rigid plastic material, is constituted by a cylindrical lateral skirt 32 joined to a top panel 33. When the container 1 is in its rest position, the skirt 32 comes to bear with its lower edge on the shoulder 12 of the peripheral skirt 6 of the head 5, the inner edge of the skirt 32 sliding along the wall 14 of the skirt 6, with sufficient friction to ensure that the cap 31 is held in place.

The foaming preparation, comprising a propellant gas in association with the active substances to be dispensed, is stored in the container 1 in the usual way. The dispensing head 5 is then presented coaxially above the body 2 and is lowered until the retaining ring 10 becomes catch-engaged on the crimped bead. During this operation, the chamfered wall 16 guides the valve stem 4 for introducing it into its recess at the base of the end fitting 9. The end of travel corresponds to the position - represented in Figure 2, where the ribs 13 bear on the upper edge of the valve carrier cup. The upper edge of the valve stem 4 substantially bears against the shoulder 17.

During this positioning action, because of the presence of the ribs 13, the stem 4 is not subjected to any axial depression which would open the dispensing valve and would prematurely release a dose of the substance to be dispensed. The protective cap 31 is then put in place by being axially presented above the dispensing head 5.

When the hairdresser, or more generally the user, wishes to apply the composition contained in the container 1 to a head of hair, having removed the protective cap 31 he or she grips the container 1 in one hand as schematically outlined in Figure 1, by placing the thumb and the second phalanx of the index finger on each of the two bosses 30 formed externally at the upper portion of each of the levers 26. In this position, where the hold of the container in the bent palm of the hand can be correctly 3 5 ensured, the user can then effect application of the composition streak-by-streak merely by pressing together the two bosses 30 to close the two levers together, thereby actuating the dispensing of a dose without any great effort.

The zone of the top 7 of the head 5 which is situated between the two slots 20 constitutes a movable part. The tilting of the levers 26 towards each other is made possible by the presence of the hinge zones 24 and 25 and also because the material constituting the head is relatively flexible. In this manipulation the two lateral zones of this movable part, each constituted between two adjacent film hinges 24 and 25, tilt towards the body 2 around the external hinges 25; this tilting entails the translation, in the same direction parallel to its longitudinal axis, of the central zone of the movable region defined between the two hinges 24 and which includesthe sleeve for connection to the valve stem 4. The valve stem is thus subjected to the desired axial depression. without any damage, to release the foam through the duct 19 of the end fitting 9.

When the hairdresser relaxes his or her pressure on the bosses 30 of the levers 26, the internal spring equipping the valve causes the movable part of the top 7 to rise and to reassume its rest position as the valve closes, with a reverse operation of the hinge zones 24 and 25.

It shall be duly understood that the embodiment described above is in no way restrictive and can give rise to any desirable modification without thereby departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

12

Claims

C L A I M S 7

A pressurised container for storing a product and dispensing it by manipulation of an actuating means to open a dispensing valve on the outlet of the container by depressing a movable element of the valve towards the inside of the container, including:- a dispensing head mounted on the outlet of the said container by means of a fixed part, said dispensing head comprising a movable part which is joined to the fixed part by articulation means and has means for connecting the head to the movable valve element, said connecting means being traversed by an ejection duct communicating the interior of the container with the exterior when the actuating element is manipulated, the movable part of said dispensing head comprising a median zone which carries the connecting means and two opposed lateral zones which are each joined to the median zone by a central hinge zone, these two central hinge zones being parallel to each other and orthogonal to the axis of ejection of the product from the container, wherein in the rest position each said lateral zone is in a plane perpendicular to the above-mentioned ejection axis and is joined to the fixed part of the dispensing head by two lateral hinge zones disposed parallel to the central hinge zones, and wherein said actuating means are constituted by two levers disposed on either side of said ejection axis and each carried by one of said lateral zones near the lateral hinge zone connecting it to the fixed part, the tilting of said levers producing tilting of said lateral zones around the lateral hinge zones and consequently translation of said central zone in a direction corresponding to depression of the movable valve element.
2. A pressurized container according to claim 1, wherein said connecting means are extended by a dispensing end fitting whose free end is situated outside the 13 manipulating space of the levers.
3. A pressurised container according to claim 2, wherein said dispensing end fitting is disposed along said axis of ejection of the product from the container. 5
4. A pressurised container according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the dispensing head is made from a single piece of a flexible plastic material, and said hinge zones are constituted by film hinges.
5. A pressurised container according to claim 4, wherein said film hinges are constituted by wall zones whose thickness is reduced by the presence of grooves.
6. A pressurised container according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said levers are symmetrical in relation to said axis of ejection of the product from the container.
7. A pressurised container according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the dispensing head is constituted by a peripheral skirt for fastening it to the container, said skirt being joined to a top surmounting a valve carrier cup and carrying the movable part of said dispensing head, and where-in radial ribs carried by the skirt and the top bear on the edge of the valve carrier cup when the dispensing head is mounted on the container body.
8. A pressurised container according to claims 4 and 7 taken together, wherein said movable part is formed between two mutually parallel slots in the top on either side of said ejection axis and perpendicular to said central and lateral hinge zones,.and wherein said central hinge zones for connecting the lateral zones and the central zone of the movable part each extend from one said slot to the other.
9. A pressurised container according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein said movable element of the valve is constituted by an emergent outlet tube and the element for connecting the movable part of the dispensing head to 14 said outlet tube is constituted by a sleeve having a chamfered inlet.
10. A pressurised container according to any one of claims 1 to 9, comprising a removable protective cap.
11. A pressurised container constructed and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawing.

Published 1989 atThe Patent Office,State House, 66171 High Holborn, London WC1R 4TP. Further copies maybe obtainedfrom The Patent Office. Sales Branch, St Msz7 Cray, Orpington, Kent BR5 3RD. Printed by Multiplex techniques ltd. St Mary Cray, Kent, Con. 1/87