JPS6228366A - Pump mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a pump mechanism that is removably attached to the mouth of a container body containing a liquid and for extracting the liquid from the container body to the outside.

[Technical background of the invention and problems with the background art] - In dispensers equipped with this type of pump mechanism, the nozzle is rigidly attached to the head in order to accurately define the direction of liquid discharge. ) is fixed.

Such nozzles are usually attached to a head so as to extend along a horizontal direction. Therefore, the tip of the nozzle ends up protruding outward from the outer periphery of the container body. Therefore, when the dispenser is packaged for transportation, the @ attachment of the package will be larger due to the presence of this nozzle than when there is no nozzle. On the other hand, if the length of the nozzle is shortened in order to avoid increasing the size of the package member, problems will occur when discharging liquid. That is,
At the end of the liquid discharging operation, liquid dripping from the tip of the nozzle contaminates the container body.

Additionally, an increase in the capacity of the package means that additional wrapping paper is required for the package, resulting in additional costs. Furthermore, additional warehouse space is required to store such packages, which is very uneconomical.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the invention is to provide a pump that can maintain economical efficiency without increasing the nozzle length and making the package excessively large. It is to provide a mechanism.

C Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the pump mechanism according to the present invention includes a cap that is removably attached to the mouth of a container, a cap that is attached at one end, and an intermediate component that is connected to a cylinder. a housing with a suction tube attached to its sacral end, a piston that is slidably provided within the housing and whose one end is taken out to the outside through the cap; The nozzle head is attached to the piston and supports the piston in a freely pushing manner, a primary valve provided between the suction pipe and the cylinder, and a secondary valve provided between one end of the piston and the nozzle head. The nozzle head may include a head portion attached to one end of the piston and a nozzle for discharging the sucked liquid, and the nozzle may include a flexible portion at least in part. It is characterized by In this way, the direction of the nozzle can be freely set via the flexible part, and for example, when transporting the dispenser, the nozzle part can be lowered downward to avoid unnecessarily increasing the capacity of the package. .

[Embodiments of the Invention] An embodiment of the pump mechanism according to the present invention, when applied to a dispenser, will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the dispenser 10 is comprised of a container 12 containing a liquid and a pump mechanism 14 detachably attached to the container 12.

The container 12 includes a container body 18 with a mouth 16 formed at the upper end. A handle 20 is attached to one side of the container body 1B.

Such a container 12 has a spout 16, a container body 18, and a handle 20 integrally molded from synthetic resin.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
It is equipped with A through hole 22a is formed in the center of the cap 22, into which an upper portion of a piston 24 (described later) is inserted. A housing 2 is provided on the bottom surface of this cap 22.
6 is attached (pulled). This housing 26 has a cylindrical attachment portion 26a attached to the cap 22,
This attachment is provided continuously below part 26a, and is attached to a cylinder 26b whose diameter is set to be smaller than that of part 26a, and a stepped part 26c below this cylinder part 26b.
It is integrally provided with a suction pipe 26d which is provided continuously through the cylinder 26d and has a diameter smaller than that of the cylinder 26t.

In this housing 26, a plurality of openings 26e are formed in the lower peripheral wall of the mounting portion 26a.
This opening 26e functions as a negative pressure prevention hole. Further, the lower end of the suction pipe 26d extends to the lower part of the container body 18 with the pump mechanism 14 attached to the container 12.

A first valve body 28a is provided in the step portion 26c described above to allow liquid to flow between the suction pipe 26d and the cylinder 26t.
1. The inner circumferential surface of this stepped portion 26C functions as a first valve seat 28b that comes into contact with the first valve body 28a. The first valve body 28a and the first valve seat 28b together constitute a primary material 28.

This first valve body 28a is moved by its own weight to the first valve seat 28b.
The second material 28 is closed.

That is, the space between the suction pipe 26d and the cylinder 26b is normally closed with the primary material 28. Then, by creating a negative pressure inside the cylinder 26b, the suction pipe 26d
The liquid sucked up through the first valve body 2
8a will be pushed up and the next material 28 will be opened.

A first valve body 2 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the lower part of the cylinder 26b.
A plurality of guide ribs 26f are provided integrally with the cylinder 26b to guide the cylinder 6a to move in the vertical direction in the figure. These guide ribs 26f are g! It is made up of plates that extend along the right direction and are arranged at equal intervals along the circumferential direction. A locking pawl 26Q is provided at the upper end of each guide rib 26f' and faces inward to prevent the first valve body 28a from popping out upward.

A piston 24 is provided within the cylinder 26b so as to be interlockable along the direction in which the piston 24 extends. This piston 24
is a pipe-shaped communication gB24a that extends along the vertical direction in the figure and is open at both upper and lower ends, and is formed at the lower end of this communication part 24a and connected to the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 26b over the entire circumference. A piston body 24b is provided. connection 8
1124a is taken out to one side of the cap 22 through the through hole 22a of the cap 22 described above. Note that the inner circumferential surface of the through hole 22a connects the outer circumferential surface of the communicating portion 24a to the communicating portion 2.
While being guided along the extending direction of the communicating portion 24a, the communicating portion 24a is spaced apart from the outer circumferential surface of the communicating portion 24a to such an extent that the space between them is not airtight.

On the other hand, a biasing member 30 that biases the piston 24 upward is provided inside the cylinder 26b.

The biasing member 30 has an upper end in contact with the lower surface of the biscuit main body 24b of the piston 24, and a lower end in contact with the plurality of guide ribs 24.
It is composed of a coil spring that comes into contact with the upper surface of f.

A nozzle head 32 is attached to the upper end of the communication portion 24a of the piston 24. This nozzle head 32 includes a head part 32a injected into the outer periphery of the upper end of the communication part 24a, a bendable flexible part 32b attached to the side surface of the head part 32a, and a flexible part 32b attached to the side surface of the head part 32a. The nozzle part 32c is provided in connection with the tip of the nozzle part 32c. The head portion 32a includes a cylindrical attachment portion 32a1 that is fitted onto the outer peripheral surface of the communication portion 24a, and a head main body 32a2 that is provided on the upper part of the attachment portion 32a1 and pushed in by the operator. We are prepared.

As described above, the nozzle head 32 composed of the head portion 32a, the flexible portion 32b, and the nozzle portion 32c is integrally molded from synthetic resin. This nozzle head 32 has an installation hole 32 that communicates with the communication 8I124a at the part 32ai and communicates with the outside at the nozzle part 32C.
d is formed.

The flexible portion 32b described above is composed of a bellows tube, and the direction of the nozzle portion 32G can be freely set by the operator via the flexible portion 32b. Moreover, when the flexible part 32b is extended linearly along the horizontal direction, the distance from the base end of the flexible part 32b to the tip of the nozzle part 32C is the distance from the base end of the flexible part 32b to the container 12. The distance is set to be longer than the distance measured along the horizontal direction to the outer peripheral surface of.

A second valve body 34a is provided in the head portion 2a described above, which restricts the flow of liquid between the piston 24 and the nozzle head 32, while being attached to the upper end edge of the communication pipe 24a. ing. That is, the upper edge of the communication portion 24a
The valve seat 34b functions as a valve seat 34b. These second valve bodies 3
4a and the second valve seat 34b together constitute a secondary valve 34.

As shown in FIG. 3, the second valve body 34a includes a cylindrical portion 34a1 that contacts the second valve seat 34b, and a cylindrical portion 34a1 that abuts on the second valve seat 34b.
A conical pressing part 34 connected to the upper part of 4a1
a2.

On the other hand, a plurality of elastic plates 3 are provided in a portion of the head portion 32a located above the above-mentioned pressing portion 34a2, hanging down so as to engage with the slope of the pressing portion 34a2.
2e is formed.

These elastic plates 32e are integrally formed with the head portion 32a. In addition, these elastic plates 32e keep the second valve body 34a in constant contact with the second valve seat 34b with their lower ends engaged with the slope of the pressing portion 34a2, and the secondary valve 34
The second valve body 34a is urged downward to close the valve body 34a. -Next time, when the pressure inside the pressurizing chamber 36 defined by the space between the secondary valve 34 and the second valve 34 is made higher than a predetermined pressure, that is, when the pressure inside the pressurizing chamber 36 is When the biasing force is greater than the biasing force, the second valve body 34a
The secondary valve 34 is opened by being lifted upward against the biasing force of the elastic plate 32e.

Note that the elastic plate 32e is elastically deformed along the slope of the pressing portion 34a2 when the second valve body 34a is lifted upward. While the elastic plate 32e is elastically deformed, the second valve body 34a is still urged downward by the elastic plate 34e. Therefore, when the force pushing up the second valve body 34a is released, the second valve body 34a moves to the elastic plate 32e.
so as to come into contact with the second valve seat 34b due to the urging force of
Being pushed down.

Further, the head portion 32a is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the portion 32a1 by a plurality of lock claws 38, three in this embodiment, which are mounted at equal intervals along the circumferential direction. As shown in FIG. 4, this lock claw 38 is inclined upward at a predetermined angle θ from the base end toward the distal end. Depending on the state of the lock pawl 38 and its attachment, the lock pawl 38 is adapted to follow deformation in which it is rotated further upward from its position, but to resist deformation in which it is pushed down. .

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, in the flange portion 22c formed on the periphery of the cap 22 defining the through hole 22a, a recess 22b into which the lock pawl 38 is inserted corresponds to the lock pawl 38. It is formed as follows. The flange portion 22c is positioned such that the flange portion 22c is spaced apart from the outer circumferential surface of the portion 32at by a distance slightly longer than the thickness of the aforementioned lock claw 38 when the head portion 32a is attached.

Further, on the outer peripheral surface of the cap 22, as shown in FIG. 5, a hook part 40 is provided for holding the nozzle part 32C within a range that does not protrude outward from the outer periphery of the container 12. This hook portion 40 has a tip end of C in a planar shape.
It is integrally attached to the cap 22 in a letter-shaped state.

Furthermore, a closing member 42 that releasably closes the tip of the guide hole 32d opened in the tip is rotatably attached to the tip of the nozzle portion 32C. This closing member 4
2 includes a circular root-shaped main body 42a. This main body 42
a is rotatably attached to the tip of the nozzle portion 32c via a hinge portion 42b. At the center of the main body 42a, there is a fitting part 42c that is fitted into the tip of the guide hole 32d with the main body 42a facing the tip surface of the nozzle part 32G.
is provided. By fitting this fitting portion 42c into the tip of the guide hole 32d, the guide hole 32d is completely closed.

A locking portion 42d is provided on the surface opposite to the side where the fitting portion 42C is provided, standing upright on this surface. On the other hand, in order to maintain this open position when the locking portion 42d is rotated to open the guide hole 32d, the locking portion 42d is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the nozzle portion 32C.
A pair of holding parts 42e are provided to hold d from both sides.

The closing member 42 formed in this way is connected to the nozzle portion 32C.
is integrally formed.

The operation of the dispenser 10 configured as above will be explained below.

First, the operation of locking the dispenser 10 for transportation, display, etc. will be explained.

That is, in the case of this locking operation, the coil spring 3
The head body 3 of the nozzle head 32 resists the urging force of o.
2a2 is pushed in deeper than the normal discharge operation, so that the lock pawl 38 passes over the seven flange portions 22G of the cap 22 and is positioned below the seven flange portions 22G, as shown in FIG. Here, as described above, the lock pawl 38 is allowed to be deformed by being pushed upward. Therefore, the lock claw 38 is inserted into the recess 2.
2b, there is no longer a need to push down the nozzle head 32, and the lock claw 38 can be pushed down at any position, which greatly simplifies the pushing down operation. .

On the other hand, in order to release this locked state, the nozzle head 32 in the locked state is rotated. That is, by rotating the nozzle head 32, when the lock pawl 38 and the recess 22b face each other, the urging force of the coil spring 30 causes the nozzle head 32 to allow the lock pawl 38 to pass through the recess 22b. is pushed upwards. In this way, the locked state is released. That is, the dispenser 10 becomes ready for dispensing operation.

In the above-described locked state, the nozzle portion 32G of the nozzle head 32 is held by the hook portion 40 so as not to protrude outward from the container 12. Further, since the nozzle head 32 is locked in a depressed state, the height of the entire dispenser is limited to a low level. In this way, in this locked state, the nozzle part 32C
This allows the dispenser 10 to be made compact without unnecessarily increasing the package capacity.

Next, a description will be given of the liquid ejection operation when the nozzle head 32 is unlocked.

First, by releasing the lock, the nozzle head 3
2 is pushed upward by the urging force of the coil spring 30. At the same time as pushing up this nozzle head 32,
The piston 24 is also pushed up. This screw 1 Hen 2
4, the pressure inside the pressurizing chamber 36 is reduced. In this way, the liquid stored in the container body 18 is transferred to the suction tube 2 in the pressurizing chamber 36 by opening the container body 18 next time.
6d.

Then, the operator presses the nozzle head 32 to perform a discharge operation.
When the piston 24 is pushed down, the piston 24 is also pushed down. By pushing down the piston 24, the pressure within the pressurizing chamber 36 is increased. In this way, as shown in FIG. 7, the liquid pressurized within the pressurizing chamber 36 is pushed into the pressurizing chamber 36 by the urging force of the elastic plate 32e.
When the internal pressure is increased, the secondary valve 34 is opened. Therefore, the liquid in the pressurizing chamber 3G passes between the second valve body 34a and the second valve seat 34b of the secondary valve 34,
The nozzle part 32 through the guide hole 32d of the nozzle head 32.
It will be discharged from c.

When a predetermined amount of liquid has been ejected, the operator stops pushing the nozzle head 32 and releases the nozzle head 34. As a result, the nozzle head 34 is freed, and the nozzle head 34 and the piston 24 are pushed upward by the urging force of the coil spring 3o. Therefore, as described above, the liquid is introduced into the pressurizing chamber 36 again. In this way, -th liquid ejection operation is completed.

Here, each time the discharge operation is performed, the amount of liquid in the container 12 decreases, and the pressure in the container 12 gradually decreases. In order to prevent such a negative pressure inside the container 12, the negative pressure prevention hole 26e is formed as described above. Through this negative pressure prevention hole 26e, the inside of the container 12 is connected to this negative pressure prevention hole 26e and the communication pipe 24 of the piston 24.
The opening 22a of the cap 22 is communicated with the outside via the peripheral edge portion defining the peripheral edge of the opening 22a of the cap 22. Therefore, even if the amount of liquid decreases, the pressure inside the container 12 will not become negative.

Here, if the container is overturned, there is a possibility that the liquid in the container 12 may leak out through the negative pressure prevention hole 26e. However, in such a case,
This mostly occurs when the dispenser 10 is being transported. During such general feeding, the nozzle head 32
is locked, as mentioned above. Here, with the nozzle head 32 locked, the lower end of the mounting portion 32a+ of the head portion 32a is brought into contact with the cap 22. Therefore, this cap 22 and the nozzle head 3
2, the container 12 is prevented from communicating with the outside, and there is no possibility that the liquid in the container 12 will leak to the outside.

Further, the elastic plate 32e that urges the second valve body 34a of the secondary valve 34 engages with the slope of the conical pressing portion 34a2. Therefore, the elastic force of the elastic plate 32e is divided by this slope, and the force is significantly reduced. Therefore, in this secondary valve 34, the second valve body 34a is brought into contact with the second valve seat 34b with extremely small force. In other words, this means that the secondary valve 34
This means that the cut-off pressure is very small. Therefore,
The secondary valve 34 opens due to a slight increase in the pressure of the liquid in the pressurized chamber 36 due to pushing the nozzle head 32, and the pushing force of the nozzle head 32 becomes extremely light, improving operability. .

Here, in the discharge operation, the nozzle portion 32G
2b, the discharge direction can be freely set. In this way, even without lifting the container 12, the tip of the nozzle portion 32C can be directed to a desired location, and the discharging operation can be performed very easily.

Further, the tip of the nozzle portion 32C is positioned so as to protrude outward from the outer periphery of the container 12 with the flexible portion 32b extended along the horizontal direction. In this way, even if liquid leaks from the tip of the nozzle portion 32c, the leaked liquid will not contaminate the container 12, making it very easy to operate.

Furthermore, since a closing member 42 is attached to the tip of the nozzle part 32c, when the discharge 111 operation is not performed,
The tip of the nozzle portion 32C is reliably closed by the closing member 42. In this way, even if the nozzle head 32 is pushed in by mistake, no ejection operation is performed and there is no risk that the surrounding area will be contaminated by this liquid.

Further, the second valve element 34a constituting the secondary valve 34 is always urged to abut against the second valve seat 34b by a plurality of elastic plates 32e. In this way, even if
Even if the dispenser 10 falls down, the liquid in the pressurizing chamber 36 will not leak out through the nozzle head 32, resulting in good operability.

In addition, since this pump 14 is attached to the mouth 16 of the container 12, it is not dependent on the shape of the container and can be applied to any container as long as the shape of the mouth matches. That will happen.

Further, in this embodiment, the pump+i Ifl 14 includes (1) a cap 22 integrally provided with a hook portion 40;
(2) a piston 24; (3) a housing 26 that integrally includes a mounting portion 26a, a cylinder 26b1, and a suction pipe 26d; (4) a first valve body 28a; (5) a coil spring 30; ) head part 32a1 flexible part 32
b, nozzle part 32G, elastic plate 32e, and lock claw 3
(7) the second valve body 34a; such a small number of parts increases the manufacturing cost; It is easy to understand that this greatly contributes to lowering product costs in terms of assembly costs.

It goes without saying that the pump mechanism of the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment described above, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, in the embodiment described above, the shape of the hook 40 is
Although it has been described that the tip is formed in a C-shape, it is not limited to this configuration, and for example, the tip may be formed in a bifurcated state as shown in FIG. good.

Although the pump mechanism of this embodiment has been described as being applied to a dispenser, it may also be applied to a sprayer by attaching a well-known spinner to the tip of the nozzle part. Furthermore, by attaching a well-known barrier to the spout of such a sprayer, it may be applied to a foamer.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As detailed above, the pump mechanism according to the present invention is
A cap that is removably attached to the mouth of the container, a housing that is attached to the cap at one end, the middle part functions as a cylinder, and a suction pipe is attached to the other end; A piston that is freely provided and whose one end is taken out to the outside through a cap, a nozzle head that is attached to one end of this piston and supports the piston so that it can be pushed freely, and the suction pipe and cylinder. The nozzle head includes a primary valve provided on the bolt, and a secondary valve provided between one end of the piston and a nozzle head, and the nozzle head includes a head portion attached to one end of the piston, and a suction valve. The nozzle is characterized in that at least a portion of the nozzle is provided with a flexible portion. In this way, according to the invention, the length of the nozzle remains long and the package is not made excessively large.
A pump mechanism that can maintain economic efficiency will be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a dispenser to which an embodiment of the pump mechanism according to the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the configuration of the pump mechanism, and FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the configuration of the secondary valve. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing how the lock claw is installed; FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the configuration of the cap; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the pump II structure in the locked state. , FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a state in which the nozzle head is pushed in and liquid is discharged, and FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a modified example of the hook portion. 10...dispenser, 12...container, 14.
...Pump mechanism, 16... Mouth part, 18... Container body, 20 Handle, 22... Cap, 22a
...Through hole, 22b...Recess, 22c...Flange part, 24...Piston, 24a...Communication part,
24b... Piston body, 26... Housing, 26a... Mounting part, 26b... Cylinder, 26C... Step part, 26d... Suction pipe,
26e...opening, 26f...guide rib, 26g・
...locking claw, 28...-next time, 28a...first
28b...first valve seat, 30...biasing member (coil spring), 32...nozzle head,
32a...head part, 32a1...mounting part,
32a2... Head main body, 32b... Flexible part,
32c... Nozzle part, 32d... Guide hole, 32e.
...Elastic plate, 34...Secondary valve, 34a...Second
Valve body, 34a1... Cylindrical part, 34a2... Pressing part, 34b... Second valve seat, 36... Pressure to,
38...Lock claw, 40...Hook portion, 42.
...Closing member, 42a... Main body, 42b... Hinge part, 42c... Fitting part, 42d... Locking part,
42e... Holding part. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 114

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) A pump mechanism that is removably attached to the mouth of a container body containing liquid and for taking out the liquid from the container body to the outside, and a cap that is detachably attached to the mouth; A housing is attached to the cap at one end, the middle portion functions as a cylinder, and the other end is attached to the suction pipe; A piston taken out to the outside, a nozzle head attached to one end of the piston and supporting the piston so as to be freely pushed in, a primary valve provided between the suction pipe and the cylinder, one end of the piston and the nozzle head. a secondary valve provided between the nozzle head and the nozzle head, the nozzle head including a head portion attached to one end of the piston, and a nozzle for discharging the sucked liquid;
A pump mechanism characterized in that the nozzle includes a flexible portion at least in part. (2) The pump mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle has a nozzle portion at its tip, and the flexible portion flexibly connects the nozzle portion to a head portion. (3) The pump mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the nozzle head integrally includes a nozzle portion, a head portion, and a flexible portion. (4) The pump mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the housing is integrally equipped with a suction pipe. (5) The pump mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the flexible portion is formed from a bellows tube.