AU757298B2 - A liner bag nozzle retainer - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

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Name of Applicant: TECHNOSEARCH PTY. LIMITED Actual Inventor: Ladislav Stephan KARPISEK Address for Service: Robert G. Halliday 44 Ashley Street, Hornsby NSW 2077 Invention Title: A LINER BAG NOZZLE RETAINER Details of Associated Provisional Application PP7041 filed 10.11.98 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: IP Australia Documents rer.-P' 1 0cO\ 1999 Batch No: 2 A LINER BAG NOZZLE RETAINER FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to means to retain the discharge nozzle of a plastic film bag projecting through an aperture in a side of a container housing the 5 liner bag. A container with a liner bag is commonly used for the storage and transport of liquids. Discharge of the liquid is through the projecting 6e oe nozzle.

PRIOR ART It has been known to provide nozzle retaining means which is integral with lo the container side having the aperture through which the liner bag nozzle projects. It is also known to provide a retaining means which can be used with nozzles of different size. The drawback with such arrangements is that the retaining means is part of the container side and is therefore purpose designed and built for one, or at the most two different, nozzle size.

The present invention provides a nozzle retainer in cassette form which can be readily mounted on a container side in juxtaposition to the aperture in the container side through which the liner bag nozzle extends. The advantage of the present invention over the prior art is that a standard container side can be made with a nozzle aperture large enough to accommodate the largest nozzle in commercial use. When a liner bag nozzle size is selected by a container user/customer it is a simple matter -3to mount the appropriately sized cassette on the container side.

BROAD STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION.

Broadly stated the invention can be said to provide a cassette form of liner bag nozzle retainer for demountable securement to a container discharge side, said retainer comprising a shutter support having an elongated back *panel with two ends and two parallel edge flanges upstanding from the plane of the back panel, a clearance notch in a first end of said back panel to complement a clearance notch in a base part of a container of which the discharge side forms part, the clearance notches together forming an aperture large enough to allow the nozzle of a liner bag to freely pass there through, said shutter support including linear guide ways for a liner bag nozzle captivating shutter, a shutter engaged in and slidably movable :*:relative to said guide ways, a captivating notch in one end of the shutter, *oi 15 said captivating notch being shaped to engage a securement portion of a liner bag nozzle, said captivating notch being positioned such that with the shutter is a lowered nozzle captivating position in said guide ways said captivating notch is aligned with the clearance notch in the first end of the back panel, holes in said flanges to accept fastening means whereby said liner bag nozzle retainer can be demountably secured to said container side.

3a BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

Fig.1 is a perspective view of a liner bag nozzle retainer in form of a cassette as proposed by the present invention, Fig.2 is a schematic representation of parts of a typical container for which :o the cassette has been devised, Fig.3 is a top edge view of a cassette mounted on a container side illustrating the manner in which the cassette is secured to the side and shielded by a cover, Fig.4 is a front view corresponding to Fig.3, *0 4 Fig 5 is an edge view corresponding to Fig.3, Fig.6 is a view similar to Fig.3 showing an arrangement with multiple shutters, Fig.7 is a view similar to fig.4 with the multiple shutters of Fig.6 and Fig 8 is a view similar to Fig.3 with the multiple shutters of Fig.6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

The cassette 1 of Fig.1 is adapted to retain the discharge nozzle of a :plastic film liner bag in a condition where it in extends through an aperture in a container side, a typical container side identified 13 is illustrated in 10 Fig.2.

The cassette 1 includes a support having a back panel 2, two edge flanges I 3 and 4, a notch 5 in a bottom edge of the back 2 and guides 6 spaced from the back panel 2 to form guide ways. The back panel notch 5 is a i free passage notch for the largest diametric dimension of the nozzle and combines with the base notch 22 to allow free passage of the bag nozzle to a position where is projects beyond the container side. A shutter 7 in the form of a plate slides in the guide ways between the support back 2 and the guides 6. The shutter 7 has a top end flange 8 and a bottom end nozzle captivating notch 9 shaped to partly embrace a six sided collar on the liner bag nozzle disposed between shoulders on the nozzle. The notch 9 would be shaped to suit the collar of the liner bag in use, the collar can be other than six sided with some bag manufacturers. Multi-sided liner bag collars are usual so that a retaining means (in this case the slide notch 9) by engagement with collar sides prevents the nozzle turning due to the 5 torque applied to the nozzle when a cap is screwed onto or removed from the nozzle. The shoulders of the nozzle either side of the nozzle collar prevent the nozzle sliding through the shutter notch 9.

There are holes 10,11 in each flange 3 and 4 to facilitate the mounting of the cassette 1 on the side of the container, as will be described later.

The arrangement illustrated and described above can be made with a shutter notch to suit a particular sized nozzle. Two nozzle sizes are commercially common. A small nozzle for low viscosity liquid material and a larger size nozzle for high viscosity liquid material. The two sizes are conventionally referred to as a 2 inch nozzle and a 3 inch nozzle.

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Details of a container side 13 adapted for mounting the cassette of the present invention type are given in Fig.2 along with details of a typical .ooooi container base.

The container side 13 includes a four sided metal perimeter frame with a top rail 14, an intermediate rail 15 and a bottom rail 16 with sides 17 and 18 joining corresponding ends of the top, bottom and intermediate rails.

Two spaced apart tie bars 19 join the bottom and intermediate rails of the frame with a gap in the bottom rail 16 between the bars 19. The inner face of the frame is covered with a thick plastic panel 20 or plywood or the like.

The base 21 as illustrated is of the four way entry pallet type with one side 6 of the base having a notch 22 in an infill sheet in a foot 32 of the base.

The notch 22 is aligned with a trough 23 in the base. When a liner bag is mounted in a container and resting on the base 21 the bottom portion of the liner bag disposed adjacent the liner bag nozzle lies in the trough 23 and the bag nozzle is supported by the edge of the notch 22. The notch 22 will lie substantially directly below the notch 5 in the back wall 2 of the cassette when it is mounted on the container side 13. With the liner bag nozzle held captive, liquid in the liner bag is directed via the trough to the *..:liner bag nozzle which lies below the level of the top surface of the base, by this means substantially all of the liquid in a liner bag can be discharged "though the nozzle.

Fig.3 is a top edge view of the cassette just described when mounted on tOO,.: the container side 13. Fig.4 is a front view of the arrangement of Fig.3 and is an edge view of the arrangement of Fig.3.

As will be seen from the drawing Figs. 3 to 5 the cassette is mounted in a position between the bars 19 by bolt and nut connectors 24 engaged in the holes 10 and 11 in the cassette flanges 3 and 4 and in holes through the bars 19.

There is a nozzle covering door 25 pivotally connected at 26 by links 36 to the bars 19 and mounted on one of the bars 19 there is a spring loaded slide bolt assembly 27. The bolt 33 of the assembly 27 passes though a hole 12 in the cassette flange 4 and enters a hole in a flange of the door 7 The door can be held open by engagement of an inwardly joggled lug 34 on the door 25 with a lug 35 on the side panel rail As shown in Fig.4 the cassette shutter 7 is in the position it would occupy if engaged with the bag nozzle, shown in broken lines. The nozzle s comprises a discharge end portion 37 spaced from a flange 38 with the hexagonal collar engaged by the shutter between the flange 38 and an inner liner bag flange 39. The liner bag 40 is welded to the flange 39.

Holding means of any suitable type can be provided to hold the shutter 7 down, in the nozzle collar engaging and retaining position. An example o of a suitable holding means would be co-operting lug(s) on the inner face of the door 25 and the shutter 7. The lugs would be disposed in overlying relationship with the lugs on the door 25 above the lugs on the shutter 7 when the door 25 is closed. The holding means could be lugs on the door and the shutter top edge flange 8.

Figs.6,7,8 are similar to Figs.3,4,5 except that in the Figs.6,7,8 the shutter 7 is in close sliding relationship with a second shutter 28 with a different sized notch 42 in Fig.7 so that liner bag nozzles of either of two sizes can be engaged by a shutter.

To cater for the situation where the container is to be used for the carriage of dry material, e.g. plastic pellets, a shutter support replica without the notch 5 or the guides 6 would be fixed by bolts to the bars 19. This would result in the space between the bars 19 and the bottom rail of the 8 side 13 being covered thereby providing a continuation of the side cover sheet As will be readily seen it would be possible to provide a cassette with three shutters respectively for a first size nozzle, a second size nozzle and for 5 "dry" material.

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ia. a The use of multiple shutters, for 2 inch and 3 inch nozzles, introduces a complication in the design of the cassette support on the container side.

The reason is the 3 inch nozzle is "longer" than a 2 inch nozzle. This means the door 25 when covering the outer end of a 3 inch bag nozzle will be spaced further from the cassette back 2 than is the case when the door is covering the free end of a 2 inch nozzle. The link connection 36 between the door 25 and the members 19 accommodates the length :-difference and allows the door 25 to still lie in a plane parallel to the container side when covering the 3 inch nozzle. The accommodation will result in the door being positioned "higher" than when covering a 2 inch nozzle and to allow operation of the bolt 33 an appropriately positioned second bolt receiving hole in the hole door flange is provided. As an alternative the two holes in the door flange can be replaced by a slot.

As will be understood changes can be made to the structure described above without departing from the inventive concept herein disclosed. By way of example, the shutter guide ways provided by the space between the back 2 of the cassette and the members 6 could be replaced by slots in the 9 flanges 3 and 4 engaged by lugs on the outer edges of the shutter 7. The extremities of the slots, in the length direction, could be used to provide limits on the amount of up and down movement of the shutter(s).

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Claims (7)

1. A cassette form of liner bag nozzle retainer for demountable securement to a container discharge side, said retainer comprising a shutter support having an elongated back panel with two ends and two parallel edge flanges upstanding from the plane of the back panel, a clearance notch in a first end of said back panel to complement a clearance notch in a base part of a container of which the discharge side forms part, the clearance notches together forming an aperture large 10 enough to allow the nozzle of a liner bag to freely pass there through, said shutter support including linear guide ways for a liner bag nozzle Si captivating shutter, a shutter engaged in and slidably movable relative to said guide ways, a captivating notch in one end of the shutter, said captivating notch being shaped to engage a securement portion of a liner S 15 bag nozzle, said captivating notch being positioned such that with the shutter is a lowered nozzle captivating position in said guide ways said captivating notch is aligned with the clearance notch in the first end of the back panel, holes in said flanges to accept fastening means whereby said liner bag nozzle retainer can be demountably secured to said container side.

2. A liner bag nozzle retainer as claimed in claim 1 wherein the captivating notch of said shutter is multi-sided so as to engage some of the sides of a multi-sided securement portion of a liner bag nozzle to prevent S rotation of a captivated nozzle. -11

3. A liner bag nozzle retainer as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said guide ways are channels defined by an inner face of said back panel and faces of members upstanding from inner faces of said edge flanges.

4. A liner bag nozzle retainer as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 3 including a hole in one of said edge flanges to allow retractable bolt means mounted on said container side to pass through said hole to engage and hold closed a nozzle captivating notch covering door mounted .oo on said container side. t i *o 10

5. A liner bag nozzle retainer as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 4 wherein said shutter has a top end flange at the opposite end of the o. shutter to said one end thereof.

6. A liner bag nozzle retainer as claimed in any one of the preceding 0 *0 claims which includes a plurality of guide way mounted slidable shutters.

7. A cassette form of liner bag nozzle retainer substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings. Dated this lth day of November, 2002 TECHNOSEARCH PTY. LIMITED SBy its Patent Attorney Robert G. Halliday