IE44921B1 - Improvements in or relating to a dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

1515840 Condiment dispenser DART INDUSTRIES Inc 3 May 1977 [4 June 1976] 18562/77 Heading A4A [Also in Division B2] A dispenser for spices or herbs comprises a container with an upwardly extending recess 18 in its bottom wall 6 and a perforated dispensing cap 8 removably fitted across the top of the container, the cap 8 being shaped so that it will fit into the recess whereby Fig. 14 (not shown) a number of dispensers may be stacked one on top of the other. The dispenser is of plastics and the cap 8 is held to the container by a bead (11) on the cap engaging under a bead 15 on the container. An unperforated protective cap 16 may be fitted over the perforated cap, e.g. of the top dispenser in a stack, and both caps 8, 16 have cut-outs (14, 20) to facilitate their removal. In a modification Figs. 16, 21 (not shown) the perforated cap is in two halves hinged together, one half being unperforated and able to be hinged open from the container allowing a spoon to be inserted.

Description

The present invention relates to a dispenser and more particularly to a dispenser for storing and dispensing herbs, spices and the like.

According to this invention there is provided a dispenser for granular or powdered material such as spice comprising a container having a bottom, wall having an upwardly extending recess therein and an upstanding peripheral wall having an upper edge which defines a top opening of the container, and a cap removably affixed to said container and closing said top opening, and having at least one hole therein to permit dispensing of a commodity from the dispenser, said cap having a configuration and size substantially corresponding to the configuration and size of said recess in said bottom wall, the arrangement being such that two or more such dispensers can be stacked vertically on top of each other, with the perforated cap of a lower dispenser fitting into the bottom wall recess of a container immediately above it thereby to seal the contents of the lower container from the atmosphere and to retain the dispensers together in releasable stacking engagement.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and so that further features thereof may be appreciated the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in whichs- 3 Figure 1 is a perspective view of a dispenser in accordance with the present invention, the dispenser comprising a container and a perforated cap and being provided with an unperforated top cap; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the dispenser of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the dispenser of Figure 1; Figure 4· is a side elevation view of the unperforated top cap of the dispenser shovzn in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a side elevation view of the perforated cap of the dispenser shown in Figure 1; Figure 6 is a side elevation view cf the container of the dispenser shown in Figure 1; Figure 7 is a top plan view of the unperforated cap shown in Figure 4; Figure 8 is a bottom plan view of the unperforated cap shown in Figure 4; Figure 9 is a top plan view of the perforated cap shown in Figure 5; Figure 10 is a bottom plan view of the perforated cap shown in Figure 5; Figure 11 is a bottom plan view of the container shown in Figure 6; Figure 12 is a top plan view of the container shown in Figure 6; Figure 13 is a cross-section taken on line 13-13 of Figure 1; Figure 14 is a perspective view of three dispensers in stacked position; Figure 15 is an enlarged cross-section taken on circled portion 15 of Figure 14; Figure 16 is a perspective view of a modified form of perforated cap, with the cap in closed position? Figure 17 is a perspective view of the modified form of perforated cap,- shown in Figure ί,δ with the cap in open position? Figure 18 is a cross-section taken on line 18-18 of Figure 16? Figure 19 is a cross-section taken on line 19-19 of Figure 16? Figure 20 is a top plan view of the cap of Figure 16? and, Figure 21 is a side view of the cap of Figure 16.

Referring to the drawings a dispenser in accordance with the invention' comprises a cylindrical container having a bottom T/all 6 and upstanding cylindrical walls 7 and a perforated cap having a top wall 8 with a plurality of holes 9 which perforated cap may be snap fitted into engagement with the container. The top wall 8 of the perforated cap has a downwardly extending peripheral wall 10 which terminates in a bottom radially outwardly protruding peripheral bead 11. (See Figure 3). An annular connecting wall 12 which is integral with the perforated cap extends radially outwardly from the wall 10 and has an integral downwardly depending wall 13 which is continuous around the entire cap.with the exception of a cut-out portion 14 (see Figure 5). When the perforated cap is snap fitted into engagement as will be described further below, the lower edge of the wall 13 engages the upper edge of the wall 7 of the container, thereby to locate the perforated cap in the desired position relative to the container. The cut-out portion 14 enables a user to remove the cap from the 44981 - 5 container by inserting a finger, for example, into the cut-out portion 14 to prise the cap off the container for filling the container with a commodity to be dispensed therefrom.

The upper edge of the wall 17 of the container terminates in radially inwardly extending bead 15 (see Figure 13) whioh interlocks with the outwardly extending bead 11 on the cap when the cap is snapped on to the container 7 with the lower edge of the wall 13 and the upper edge of the wall 7 engaging as described above.

The beads 11 and 15 are sc dimensioned to permit the cap easily to be snapped into sealing engagement with the container and also to permit removal of the cap by inserting a finger into the cut-out portion 14 and prising the cap off. the container. The components of the dispenser are injection moulded from polyethylene, polypropylene or derivatives thereof; the container and perforated cap having some flexibility but being sufficiently rigid to maintain their configuration and to allow a firm engagement and a sealing relationship between the cap and the container.

An unperforated cap having a top wall 16 and downwardly extending peripheral side wall 17 is dimensioned to be snugly fitted over the perforated cap in the manner shown in Figure 13 to seal the holes 9 in the top wall 8 and thus to protect the contents of the dispenser from deterioration as a result of prolonged exposure to the atmosphere. The side wall 17 has a cut-away portion 20 to facilitate removal of the unperforated cap by a user of the dispenser.

The bottom wall 6 of the container is elevated above the lower edge of the wall 7 to provide a recess - 6 18 in the bottom of the container. The dimensions of the walls 8 and 10 of the perforated cap correspond to the dimensions of the recess 18 so that a plurality of dispensers may be stacked together, the perforated cap of one container being snugly received within the recess 18 of the next container in the stack in the manner shown in Figure 15P thereby maintaining the stack of dispensers in a releasably wedged together condition as shown in Figure 14. In this way the contents of the lower dispensers are sealed from the atmosphere and the amount of space necessary to store the dispensers is minimised. The topmost dispenser of the stack may be sealed with an unperforated cap, of the type described above, as shown in Fi'gure 14. Figures 16 to 19 show a modified form of perforated cap which comprises a hinged cap member and a snap engagement member» The hinged cap member has a diametrical hinge 23 in the form of a moulded channel extending from one edge of the cap member to the other across the underside of the upper wall 21 of the cap member (see Figure 19). The upper wall 21 comprises two semi-circular portions separated by the hinge 23, one such portion being provided with a series of perforations and the other semi-circular portion being unperforated. An integral peripheral skirt 22 depends from the upper wall 21, the skirt 22 being discontinuous adjacent the hinge 23, and terminating at its lower edge with an inwardly protruding rib 25 (see Figure 18). The rib 25 is adapted to snappingly engage v/ith a corresponding circumferential channel formed in an upstanding wall 26 forming part of the snap engagement member, thereby to secure the cap member and snap engagement member 44ί>34 - 7 together. Hie upstanding wall 26 terminates at its lower end with an outwardly protruding bead and has an annular connecting wall extending outwardly therefrom, there being a downwardly depending peripheral wall integral with the connecting wall (see Figure 18).

The hinge 23, when the cap member and snap engagement member are secured together, permits the unperforated semicircular portion of the perforated cap to be swung upwardly to an open position as shown in Figure 17 thereby providing a large opening 24 into which a spoon or the like may be inserted into a container to which the perforated cap is attached to enable large or measured quantities of a commodity to be dispensed from the container. A cut-away portion 27 is provided in IS the wall 22 for the user to insert a finger in the opening and pivot the wall 21 upwardly from the position shown in Figure 16 (closed position) to the position shown in Figure 17.

The modified closure shown in Figures 16 to 19 is preferably injection moulded from a material such as polypropylene due to the flexibility of polypropylene and its failure to fatigue at the hinge 23 after repeated use.

Claims (7)

1. CLAI MS ---1. A dispenser for granular or powdered material such as spice comprising a container having a bottom wall having an upwardly extending recess therein and ah 5 upstanding peripheral wall having an upper edge which defines a top opening Of the container, and a cap removably affixed to said container and closing said top opening, and. having at least one hole therein to permit dispensing of.a commodity’from the dispenser, said cap 10.. having' a configuration and size substantially corresponding to the configuration and size of said recess in said bottom wall, the arrangement being such that two or more such dispensers can. be stacke'd vertically. on. top of each other, the perforated cap of a. lower . 15 dispenser fitting into the bottom wall recess of a container immediately above it thereby to seal the contents of the lower container from the atmosphere and to retain the dispensers together in releasable stacking engagement. 20

2. A. dispenser according to claim 1 wherein said cap.includes spaced inner and outer vertically extending walls which are adapted to locate and retain said cap in position on the container, and an opening in said outer wall so that a person's finger may be inserted 25 in the opening to facilitate removal of said cap from said container.

3. A dispenser according to claim 2 wherein said inner wall of said perforated cap is provided with a peripheral outwardly protruding bead and said peripheral 30 wall of the container is provided with a peripheral inwardly protruding bead, said beads being adapted to co-operate to permit the cap releasably to be snapped into sealing engagement with the container.

4. A dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said cap has a swingably mounted cover part which is movable to and from closed and open 5. Positions, said open position providing a large opening in the cap portion to permit ingress into the dispenser of a spoon or the like, and said closed position positioning said cover part over said large opening.

5. A dispenser according to any one of the preced10 ing claims provided with an unperforated cap adapted to be fitted over the perforated cap to seal the hole or holes in said cap.

6. A dispenser substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 15 15 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A dispenser substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 15 as modified by Figures 16 to 21 of the drawings.