Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47K—SANITARY EQUIPMENT; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR, e.g. TOILET ACCESSORIES
  • A47K5/00—Holders or dispensers for soap, toothpaste or the like
  • A47K5/06—Dispensers for soap
  • A47K5/12—Dispensers for soap for liquid or pasty soap
  • A47K5/1211—Dispensers for soap for liquid or pasty soap using pressure on soap, e.g. with piston
  • A47K5/1215—Dispensers for soap for liquid or pasty soap using pressure on soap, e.g. with piston applied by a peristaltic action

Definitions

• This invention relates to viscous liquid dispensers and , in particular , to a dispenser containing at least two disposable cartridges of the viscous liquid with means for selectively dispensing only from a single cartridge at any one time .
• the disposable cartridges In the past ten years , it has become fairly common to package certain viscous liquids , such as soaps , shampoos and like products , in disposable cartridges and to dispense such liquids from dispensers in places like public washrooms , and hotel and motel bathrooms .
• the detailed construction of the disposable cartridges may differ , they generally include a compressible pump portion and an exit orifice for the liquid . When pressure is applied to the pump portion of the cartridge , liquid is forced through the exit orifice , into the user's hand .
• the dispensers that accept such disposable liquid cartridges have a manually operated dispensing member, such as a pivoted lever , for pressing the pump portion of the cartridge against a compression surface in the dispenser .
• a typical prior art viscous liquid dispenser is disclosed in U . S . Patent 4, 130 , 224-Norman , et al. , assigned to the assignee of the present invention .
• the dispenser of Norman , et al. is used to dispense liquids such as soap from a single disposable cartridge .
• the Norman , et al. dispenser has a sight window located adjacent to the bottom of the disposable cartridge so that a maintenance person can see that the cartridge needs to be replaced.
• One problem with the single cartridge dispenser is that when the maintenance person looks at the window , the level of the fluid may be only slightly above the window with the result that the cartridge is completely used up before the maintenance person returns to service the dispenser.
• U . S. Patent 4, 513 ,885-Hogan which discloses packaging two single cartridge dispensers side by side to form a dispensing system .
• One problem with adopting this concept for a liquid soap dispenser is that since the user can dispense from either dispenser it is possible for both cartridges to empty at the same time. Thus , it can be seen that it would be desirable to have a dual cartridge dispensing system which prevents the user from dispensing from one cartridge until the other cartridge is completely empty.
• U . S. Patent 2 , 619 , 386-Dalrymple discloses a trigger operated spray gun for simultaneously spraying two liquid solutions onto an object.
• Dalrymple describes a trigger operated mechanism that simultaneous opens or closes a pair of fluid passages .
• lines 33-40 Dalrymple provides for indi- vidual adjustment of the fluid flow through each fluid passageway. It is an object of this invention to provide a dispenser for two or more disposable, viscous liquid cartridges wherein the proba ⁇ bility that the dispenser will empty before it can be serviced is greatly reduced. Another object of this invention is to provide a dispenser , having two disposable liquid cartridges , that can only dispense from one cartridge at a time.
• Fig . 1 is a perspective view of the dual liquid cartridge dispenser of this invention ;
• Fig . 2 is a front elevational view of the dispenser
• Fig . 3 is a front sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Figs . 1 and 4 ;
• Fig . 4 is a sectional side elevation view taken along the line 4-4 of Figs . 2 and 3 ;
• Fig . 4a is a partial sectional side elevation view illustrating the compression of the cartridge pump assembly
• Fig . 5 is a partial sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Fig . 4 ; and Fig . 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Fig . 5 .
• a dispenser that can support two disposable liquid cartridges , each cartridge having an exit orifice through which fluid is dispensed when a pump portion of the cartridge is compressed.
• the dispenser has a movable compression member located in the apparatus having a first position adjacent the pump portion of the first cartridge and having a second position adjacent the pump portion of the second car ⁇ tridge .
• the movable compression member is connected to a knob extending outside the dispenser which is used to move the com ⁇ pression member to the first position or to the second position to thereby select the cartridge that is compressed.
• the dispenser has a movable dispensing member which compresses between the com ⁇ pression member and an opposing pinch surface in the dispenser only that cartridge pump portion that is adjacent the compression member.
• the dispenser 10 of this invention has a rear base member 12, a front face 20, a top wall 22 , bottom wall 24 and side walls 26 , 28.
• the base 12 is provided with a number of mounting holes , not shown, so that it can be mounted by means of bolts to a wall behind a washroom sink.
• a cover 14 that, as best illustrated in Figs . 4 and 4a, is pivotally connected to the base 12 by means of short hinge pins 30 on the cover 14 which extend into pivot holes 32 in support member 34 of base 12. Also attached to the base 12 is a shelf 36 for supporting two disposable viscous liquid cartridges 11a and lib , such as soap or shampoo, side by side in the dispenser 10.
• a typical viscous liquid cartridge 11 includes a flexible bag 13 , a pump assembly portion 17 and a paperboard box 21 for controlling the shape of the flexible bag 13 both in the dispenser 10 and during shipment.
• the pump assembly 17 consists of a connector element 23, a flexible tube 25 having one end connected to the connector 23 and the other end connected to a discharge element 27 which includes exit orifice 15 through which the liquid is dispensed.
• the discharge element 27 includes a normally closed, spring loaded, ball valve as described in the aforementioned patent to Norman, et al. As best shown in Figs.
• a fitment 19b attached to the bottom of the flexible bag 13b provides an outlet port through which liquid can flow out of flexible bag 13b .
• the connector element 23b of pump assembly 17b is inserted into the fitment 19b to provide fluid flow from the flexible bag 13b into the pump assembly 17b .
• the filled flexible bag 13b , and attached pump assembly 17b are packaged inside the paperboard box 21b for shipment .
• a handle 40 or dispensing means , is pivotally connected to the base 12 by means of short hinge pins 42 which extend into pivot holes 44 in support member 34 just below the shelf 36.
• the support member 34 has a central opening 38 and the handle 40 is mounted so that it extends through the central opening 38 with the end 40d spaced a short distance below the bottom of the dispenser 10.
• Assembled to the handle 40 is a spring loaded , pivoted pinch block 46 .
• Pinch block 46 has a pair of hooks 46a which fit around a bar element 40a of handle 40 so that the pinch block 46 can pivot around the bar element 40a.
• a movable compression block 52 mounted within the cover 14 is a movable compression block 52.
• a slide plate 54 is affixed to the compression block 52 and a knob 56 to provide a movable compression means .
• slide plate 54 moves in slide tracks formed between horizontal guide walls 58 and inner surfaces 62 of cover 14.
• the sloping side 66a of ledge 64 cooperate with a raised projection 52a on the upper edge 52c of compression block 52 to fix the loca ⁇ tion of the compression block 52 adjacent to the flexible tube 25b of cartridge lib .
• the sloped side 66a applies a compressive force to projection 52a and , because of slot 52b , the upper edge 52c of the compression block 52 yields to allow the projection 52a to slide along ledge 64.
• the projection 52a rides up the sloped side 66b which retains the movable compression block 52 in a second position adjacent the flexible tube 25a of the pump assembly 17a of the other cartridge 11a.
• the dispenser 10 has a viewing window 72 located in the center of the front face 20 of the dispenser.
• the viewing window 72 is located above knob 56 and even with the lower portion of the cartridges 11a and lib supported in the dispenser 10.
• each box 21 has two small rectangular cutouts 29 at the front lower corners of the box 21.
• the cover 14 is unlocked, or unlatched as the case may be, and pivoted down about hinge pins 30.
• Spent cartridges 11 are removed and replacement cartridges 11 are prepared by tearing out the vertical front wall strips 31 and the bottom wall strips 33 , shown in Fig. 3 , from cartridge boxes 21. Removal of those strips 31, 33 allows the pump assemblies 17 to be withdrawn from the boxes 21 so that they extend down from the lower left or lower right portion of the box 21 depending upon whether the cartridge II is placed on the support shelf 36 in the left or right position.
• Fig. 3 As best shown in Fig.
• the rear wall 12 of dispenser 10 has two locating bosses 74 which fit into a locating hole 35 in the cartridge box 21 so that the two cartridges 11a and lib are precisely positioned in the dis ⁇ oral. Locating bosses 74 also prevent shifting of the cartridges 11a and lib in the dispenser 10 when replacing cartridges .
• the discharge element 27 of each cartridge 11 is placed into the discharge element holder 50. As best shown in Fig . 3 , when the discharge elements 27a and 27b of the cartridges 11a and lib are fixed in place the bore of the discharge orifices 15 make a slight angle with the vertical so that fluid discharged from the orifices 15 is directed toward a common point at the same level as lower edge 40 d of the handle 40.
• pinch block 46 rotating about bar 40a and compression of spring 48 so that pinch block 46 builds up fluid pressure in the lower part of pump assembly 17b thereby causing * fluid to be expelled through the exit orifice 15b into the palm of the user.
• spring 48 returns the pinch block 46 to the biased position with tabs 46b of pinch block 46 . in contact with stop surfaces 40b of handle 40 which causes handle 40 to be returned to the position shown in Fig . 4. As best shown in Fig .
• cartridge 11 is compressed with a first pinching action followed by a compression action, that is due to the design of the pump assembly portion 17.
• the principles of this invention can be used in dispensers for cartridges 11 that have a pump portion 17 that require only compression to cause dispensing of the fluid. It is contemplated in the appended claims to cover all variations and modifications of the invention which come within the true spirit and scope of the invention .

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Containers And Packaging Bodies Having A Special Means To Remove Contents (AREA)
• External Artificial Organs (AREA)
• Detergent Compositions (AREA)
• Fats And Perfumes (AREA)
• Loading And Unloading Of Fuel Tanks Or Ships (AREA)
• Blow-Moulding Or Thermoforming Of Plastics Or The Like (AREA)
• Devices For Medical Bathing And Washing (AREA)
• Investigating Or Analyzing Non-Biological Materials By The Use Of Chemical Means (AREA)
• Sampling And Sample Adjustment (AREA)
• Automatic Analysis And Handling Materials Therefor (AREA)
• Reciprocating Pumps (AREA)
• Infusion, Injection, And Reservoir Apparatuses (AREA)
• Vaporization, Distillation, Condensation, Sublimation, And Cold Traps (AREA)
• Medicines Containing Plant Substances (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (3)

Family

ID=22331479

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (18)

Cited By (3)

Families Citing this family (7)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 1988
  • 1988-10-13 EP EP88909437A patent/EP0336953B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1988-10-13 IE IE311788A patent/IE61509B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1988-10-13 AU AU26057/88A patent/AU603018B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1988-10-13 DE DE88909437T patent/DE3883373T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1988-10-13 HK HK98107017A patent/HK1007728A1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1988-10-13 JP JP63508705A patent/JP2590249B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1988-10-13 AT AT88909437T patent/ATE93212T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1988-10-13 WO PCT/US1988/003493 patent/WO1989003803A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1988-10-18 PT PT88786A patent/PT88786B/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1988-10-18 MY MYPI88001179A patent/MY103430A/en unknown
  • 1988-10-18 CA CA000580450A patent/CA1327187C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1988-10-18 ES ES8803160A patent/ES2011157A6/es not_active Expired
  • 1988-10-19 MX MX013481A patent/MX170602B/es unknown
  • 1988-10-19 NZ NZ226618A patent/NZ226618A/en unknown
  • 1988-10-19 BR BR8805416A patent/BR8805416A/pt unknown
• 1989
  • 1989-03-21 DK DK136489A patent/DK164634B/da not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1989-05-22 FI FI892477A patent/FI892477A7/fi not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1989-06-05 NO NO892291A patent/NO168685C/no not_active IP Right Cessation

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