DE29721533U1 - Mixing and dosing containers - Google Patents

Description

Hiebsch P.zC&'e .:.B:eh rYm i &ngr;&ngr;

PATENT ATTORNEYS EUROPEAN PATENT AND TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS

Patent attorneys Hiebsch e.a., PO Box 464, D-78204 Singen Dipl.-lng. Gerhard F. Hiebsch Dipl.-lng. Klaus Peege (- 1996) Dipl.-lng. Niels Behrmann M.B.A. (NY)

D-78224 Singen/Germany Heinrich-Weber-Platz 1

Telephone (07731) 95 73 - 0 Fax (07731)95 73-30 Telex 793 850 hpsi

eMail Bodenseepatent@t-online.de

Our reference: W202DE0 B/mü

Registration for / application for:

USAGE PATTERNS

(31) Priority Number /Priority Application Number:

(32) Priority Date:

(33) Priority Country:

(54) Title:

Mixing and dosing containers

(71) Applicant:

Wepa

Paulus & Thewalt GmbH & Co.

Pharmacy supplies On the spruce bush D-56204 Hillscheid

(74) Representative:

Dipl.-lng. Gerhard F. Hiebsch DipL-Ing. Niels Behrmann M.B.A. (NY) -Patent lawyers-Heinrich-Weber-Platz 1 D-78224 Singen

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Mixing and dosing containers

The present invention relates to a mixing and dosing container for pharmaceutical, cosmetic or similar products.

In particular, the invention relates to such a container which is intended both for preparing or mixing the substance to be subsequently dispensed by means of a suitable mixing or stirring tool and can then itself serve as a dosing and removal vessel for the mixture thus prepared.

DE 42 16 252 C2 shows a mixing and dosing container from the state of the art.

This known device comprises a generally cylindrical plastic housing, which can be closed at one end by a screw-off lid, which, with a central opening, also serves as a guide for the drive shaft of a mixing tool that extends into the container. The other end of the housing is closed by an inserted base, which - during a later dosing operation - serves to remove the mixed material in measured quantities by manually pressing it in.

However, such a known device is only suitable to a limited extent, especially for fully automatic filling and is also only easy to handle to a limited extent: With this known device, it is necessary to remove the screw cap from the remaining container after the mixing process has been completed in order to remove the mixing tool from the container. This is then closed again with a suitable closure that can be opened by the user as required. Not only is such handling complicated -

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Moreover, the automation of these processes is difficult.

The opening of the container by removing the screw cap after the mixing process has been completed, which is required according to the state of the art, also leads to a further disadvantage, which has an impact in particular when used in the pharmaceutical field: In addition to possible contamination by foreign substances, removing the cap always leads to a comparatively large surface area of the mixed material being exposed to the air, with the associated possible adverse consequences with regard to oxidation and the quality of the mixed product.

The base used for dosing, which is arranged so that it can be moved in the housing, is also not without problems in this regard. It is necessary to move the base against the force of a partially highly viscous mixed product, which - especially for people with little experience - can lead to an uncontrollable dispensing quantity and thus to an extremely poor dosing result.

The object of the present invention is therefore to improve such a device from the prior art in such a way that both the dosing accuracy when removing a mixed material from the container is improved, and the upstream handling steps when mixing and removing the mixing tool are simplified and thus accessible to automation.

The object is achieved by the mixing and dosing container with the features of claim 1.

Advantageously, the piston movably arranged in the container body serves both as a guide for a drive shaft of the mixing tool and as a dosing element that can be moved by means of the drive device.

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This means that the mixing process can then take place against the -- closed -- container wall in the area of the outlet, and the change from mixing to dosing operation only requires removing the mixing tool and replacing it with the drive device, which then enables the removal of the mixed product in a sensitively dosable manner.

Advantageous further developments of the invention are described in the subclaims.

On the one hand, it is possible and particularly preferred to drive the piston by means of a threaded spindle that can be rotated externally by the operator and that either engages in a thread formed accordingly in the opening and thus drives the piston, or interacts with a driver piece that is adapted to the opening.

This threaded spindle can be rotated both from the side of the container opposite the outlet (open) and from the outlet side. A locking and/or snap connection is particularly preferred, which ensures a rigid connection between the actuating button and the container body in the direction of movement of the piston, while at the same time providing the rotary bearing.

Alternatively, it is within the scope of the invention to carry out batch-wise dosing by means of a push rod that can be actuated in stages - for example by pressure actuation.

All embodiments have in common that by loosening the drive shaft for a mixing tool - such as a suitably shaped mixing disk - the shaft can be easily removed through the opening and replaced by the drive device, while the mixing disk remains in the container during the subsequent dosing process. Since by inserting the drive device or an element of the same into the opening of the piston, a complete

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This creates an optimal transport and dosing container, which, thanks to the drive means used, also enables precisely dosed removal in a sensitive manner and independently of the material being mixed.

The advantage of this design is that when changing from mixing to dosing operation, the piston remains in the container by removing only the drive shaft, thus reducing -- potentially disadvantageous -- external air and/or dirt access to the mixed product to a minimum.

The invention also makes it possible to support automatic filling and mixing of the container using suitable machines. Due to the separation between the drive shaft and the mixing tool after a mixing process, it is unnecessary to remove the piston or another covering element of the container; only the uncoupled stirring shaft is pulled out.

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Further advantages, features and details of the invention emerge from the following description of preferred embodiments and from the drawings; these show in

Fig. 1: an exploded view of essential components required for the mixing process of the mixing and dosing device according to the invention in the side sectional view;

Fig. 2: a side sectional view of a drive unit consisting of a threaded spindle and a driver piece in an exploded view for use with the piston from Fig. 1;

Fig. 3: a stirring disk with an attached stirring shaft, dimensioned for insertion into the container according to Fig. 1;

Fig. 4: a side sectional view of the container according to Fig. 1 with the closure cap screwed onto the outlet nozzle;

Fig. 5: a sectional view of the arrangement according to Fig. 4 with the mixing tool inserted and an additional, indicated second mixing position;

Fig. 6 is a side sectional view of the arrangement according to Fig. 4 with the dosing unit attached according to Fig. 2 (instead of the agitator shaft);

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Fig. 7: a side sectional view of a mixing and dosing container according to the invention according to a second embodiment in the dosing or delivery state and

Fig. 8 is a side sectional view of a third embodiment of the mixing and dosing container according to the invention in the mixed and filled, ready-to-dose delivery state, which can be dosed by means of pressure actuation.

A cylindrical vessel part 10, manufactured by means of a plastic injection molding process, e.g. from PP, with an external diameter of approximately 47 mm and an external wall length of approximately 65 mm (all drawings of the present application documents are proportional in their dimensions in this regard), is, as shown in Fig. 1, closed on the bottom side except for a centrally arranged outlet nozzle 12 by means of an integrally molded vessel bottom 14. The outlet nozzle 14, which is also integrally molded, has an external thread 16 onto which a closure cap 22, which has a corresponding internal thread 18 and a lateral knurling 20 for better operation, can be screwed to close the outlet nozzle 12.

At an open end of the cylindrical vessel part 10 opposite the vessel bottom 14, an internal annular groove 24 is formed on the edge side in the inner peripheral surface of the vessel cylinder 10.

The piston 26 shown in Fig. 1, also made as a plastic injection-molded part, can also be inserted into this open area of the vessel part 10, the outer diameter of which is adapted to the clear inner width of the cylindrical vessel part 10. More precisely, the piston 26 has 8 circumferential, cross-sectionally tapering sealing lips 30 on the edge of its downward-facing piston surface 2, which

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ensure a safe and yet easily movable guide of the piston in the vessel cylinder 10. The piston 26 additionally has a central hollow cylindrical piston guide 32 formed in one piece, at the end of which opposite the piston surface 28 a pair of transverse slots 34 are provided.

The arrangement shown in Fig. 1 is designed for alternative interaction with the stirring tool designed in Fig. 3 as a combination of stirring shaft 3 6 and stirring disk 3 8 and the dosing unit shown in cross section in Fig. 2, the latter consisting of threaded spindle 40 and dosing or control wheel 42, which is attached to it in a rotationally fixed manner and has knurled edges, as well as a driver piece 44 with an internal thread 46 assigned to the threaded spindle 40.

According to the invention, as described below with reference to Figs. 4 to 6, the stirring tool with stirring disk 38 designed in an otherwise known manner, for example provided with perforations, is to be exchanged for the dosing unit shown in Fig. 2 after completion of the stirring process, whereby in an advantageous manner according to the invention only the stirring shaft 36 is removed from the arrangement, while the stirring disk 38, separated from the stirring shaft 36, remains in the container intended for dosing afterwards.

Fig. 4 shows - with the outlet nozzle inclined downwards - the filling state of the mixing and dosing container according to the invention for the active substances to be mixed and subsequently dosed. The outlet nozzle 12 is sealed by the screwed-on closure cap 22.

As shown in Fig. 5, the stirring tool, consisting of stirring shaft 36 and stirring disk 38, is then inserted through the open end of the cylindrical vessel part 10. The stirring shaft is guided - axially rotatably - by the hollow cylindrical piston guide 32 in the piston 26 inserted at the end. Fig. 5 shows an example of a raised

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flat, upper stirring or mixing position of the stirring disk 38 and a lower, lowered mixing position of the same (indicated by the dashed line in Fig. 5). Stirring takes place against the bottom of the vessel 14.

After the mixing process has ended and the mixture has been homogenized in the desired manner, the agitator shaft -- which is otherwise connected to a drive unit in a known manner for the purpose of mixing -- is separated from the mixing disk and removed from the vessel through the piston guide 32, while the agitator disk remains inside the vessel. More precisely, the shaft 36 and disk 38 are released by driving the agitator shaft in the opposite direction in the illustrated embodiment, which engages at the end by means of a right-hand thread in a corresponding thread of the agitator disk 38, in a left-hand direction, whereby the agitator disk 38 is held against rotation in a raised or lowered position on a projection (not shown in the figures) for this unscrewing or releasing process.

After the agitator shaft has been detached from the agitator disk 38 and removed from the container in this way, the dosing unit shown in Fig. 2 is placed on and snapped into place; this state is shown in Fig. 6.

More precisely, the dosing or control wheel 42 of the dosing unit, which is knurled on the circumference, snaps into the edge-side annular groove 24 of the vessel cylinder 10 by means of a circumferential, suitably shaped annular projection 48 and is rotatably mounted in this locking position about the axis of symmetry 50 shown in the figures.

The driver piece 44, screwed onto the threaded spindle 40 with the corresponding external thread 52, passes through the piston guide 32 of the piston 26 in the dosing state shown in Fig. 6, whereby a suitably shaped, double flange shoulder 54 of the driver piece 44 fits into the transverse slots

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34 engages at the upper end of the piston guide 32 and thus fixes the driver piece 44 to the piston 26 in a rotationally secure manner.

The assembly state shown in Fig. 6 with the piston on top, the dosing wheel engaged and the driver piece in the connection position with the piston 26 also shows the delivery state of the filled and completely mixed vessel to a customer, ready for removal. By manually turning the dosing or operating wheel 42 in the direction of arrow 56, the spindle 40, which is fixed to the wheel 42, rotates and thereby drives the driver piece 44 sitting on it and therefore the piston 26 downwards in the direction of arrow 58. The piston surface 28 (the stirring or mixing disk 38 has remained in the interior 60) thus presses the contents of the interior 60 through the outlet nozzle 12 as soon as the closure cover 22 is unscrewed. In particular, the rotary movement of the dosing wheel with a correspondingly fine feed thread between spindle 40 and driver 44 enables extremely precise and sensitive dosing of the mixed material contained in the interior 60, so that even less experienced and/or motorically impaired users and patients can remove and dose the mixed material evenly, precisely and practically without waste.

The device shown also advantageously discloses a mixing and dosing container which is characterized by a simple structural design - thus extremely suitable for inexpensive large-scale production using the injection molding process - and in particular can be filled automatically and, advantageously for the filling process, does not require the complete stirring tool to be removed from the mixing chamber after the stirring process has ended. Rather, a disk-shaped mixing unit, for example as a plastic injection molded part, which is suitable as a disposable mixing tool, remains in the housing without hindering the subsequent dosing process.

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In addition, the change from mixing to dosing or delivery state is extremely easy to handle. According to the invention, only the end of the agitator shaft - released after unlocking the agitator disk - has to be pulled out of the guide in the piston, and then the already fully assembled dosing unit consisting of the control wheel, threaded spindle and driver piece has to be put on; the latter then immediately engages in its sealing locking position in the piston, while the control wheel rotatably locks into the edge of the cylindrical vessel part 10. The device is then immediately ready for removal and dosing in the manner described above with high precision.

Fig. 7 shows an alternative embodiment of the dosing configuration according to Fig. 6. While in Fig. 6 the manually driven threaded spindle 4 0 is placed in a locking manner on the open end of the cylindrical vessel part 10, the manual drive of the threaded spindle for dosing purposes in the embodiment according to Fig. 4 takes place from the side of the outlet nozzle. To be more precise, after the removal of the loosened stirring shaft 36, the driver piece 44 of the threaded spindle 4 0 again engages in the piston guide 32 of the piston 2 6. In the embodiment according to Fig. 7, however, the threaded spindle 40 extends to the opening of the outlet nozzle 10 (the representations in Figs. 7 and 8 are oriented in the opposite direction to the previous illustrations), where a drive piece 62, which is rotatably attached to the outlet nozzle 12 in the manner of a union, enables the threaded spindle 40 to be rotated. More precisely, by manually rotating the drive piece 62 around the axis of symmetry in Fig. 7, the driver piece 44 with the attached piston 26 is pulled in the direction of the outlet nozzle 40, and the content in the dosing interior 60' can exit through suitably provided outlet slots in the drive piece 62 and an attached outlet nozzle 66. As in the case of Fig. 6, by sensitively rotating the drive piece 62, the threaded spindle 40 can be rotated in the direction of the outlet nozzle 40.

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Piece 62 enables precise dosing of the removal of the mixed material from the interior 60'.

Fig. 8 shows a further embodiment of the present invention, wherein -- corresponding to Fig. 7 -- the removal also takes place on the outlet side by means of an actuating piece provided there.

In contrast to the embodiments of Fig. 6 and 7, however, no rotary spindle is provided here as a drive means for the piston in the vessel part 10; rather, the spindle shown in Fig. 8 is one with a generally smooth outer surface, which is clamped against the inner wall of the vessel part 10 below the piston by means of two bow-shaped clamping or clamping elements 68.

An actuating piece 70 is snapped onto the outlet nozzle 12 and acts against the restoring force of a compression spring 72; analogous to the embodiment according to Fig. 7, the smooth spindle 74 is also connected to the actuating piece 70 in a rotationally and tilt-proof manner in the further embodiment according to Fig. 8.

The dosing removal works as follows: A pressure on the actuating piece in the direction of arrow 76 downwards moves the spindle 74 downwards and causes a small relative movement between the clamping elements 68 and the spindle 74. If the actuating piece is then released, the spindle 74 is pulled back into the raised starting position by the restoring force of the compression spring 72, but in this direction of movement the clamping elements clamp the piston to the spindle (whereas during the previous downward movement they left the piston in the same position).

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In this way, the piston can be moved upwards in fine steps through a sequence of individual pressure actuations, and the mixed material can be removed and dosed accordingly precisely.

The present invention is not limited to the implementation forms and embodiments shown, so in principle other means for manually actuating the piston in the dosing operation are possible.

Although it is particularly preferred to realize essential components of the mixing and dosing container according to the invention as plastic injection-molded parts, in principle other materials, such as metals, could also be used, depending on the intended purpose.

It is also possible within the scope of the invention to arrange the stirring disk -- detached from the stirring shaft 36 -- in the container before carrying out the stirring process, so that after filling the container with the substances to be mixed, in order to prepare the mixing process, the stirring shaft is inserted through the opening provided in the piston and connected to the stirring disk (suitably held on the piston, for example), for example by screwing it in, before the stirring process can then be carried out.

According to a further embodiment not shown in the figures, it is also particularly suitable to provide the closure lid 22, shown in the figures as a simple screw cap, with a child safety lock so that the mixed material can be secured against unauthorized removal, in particular by children.

While in the embodiments shown a separate driver piece always established the connection between the rotary or threaded spindle and the piston for the dosing operation, it is possible and included in the invention to have this driver thread directly in the guide of the piston.

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bens (through which the agitator shaft also passes).

While in the alternative embodiments of Fig. 7 and 8, where the dosing actuation was carried out at the outlet end, a corresponding actuating piece is fastened or snapped on or around the outlet nozzle 12, it is also possible here to carry out a fastening, snapping or similar assembly on the cylindrical vessel part 10, for example around the outer edge.

According to a further, advantageous development of the invention, the outlet is closed by a suitable -- removable -- cover, which is either destroyed or removed by a user before the first removal of the mixed material, or which -- in the form of a flap or a plug -- is also reusable. In concrete terms, such a development can be implemented by means of a skin or membrane-like cover, produced during the injection molding of the container, as a closure for the outlet, which can then be opened by a user using a suitable, pointed object. Alternatively, it is conceivable to offer the user the option of exposing the outlet for the removal of mixed material by tearing it out using prefabricated punches or a predetermined breaking point and a suitably provided handling tab.

Claims (11)

W202DE0 : 5 *L*4 *- : .· · **&iacgr;&idigr; CLAIMS 1. Mixing and dosing containers for pharmaceutical, cosmetic or similar products, with a container body (10) forming a substantially cylindrical interior, which has an outlet (12) tapered in diameter at one end and is designed at the other end for the insertion of a piston unit (26) which is sealingly and movably guided in the interior,
wherein the piston unit has an opening (32) for a drive shaft (36) of a mixing tool (38) drivable in the interior, a drive device (40, 42, 44) engaging in the opening (32) can be connected to the container body after the drive shaft has been removed and is designed to move the piston unit (26) in the direction of the outlet (12) in response to a manual actuation of an actuating element (42) of the drive device. 2. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the drive shaft and the mixing tool are designed in such a way that the drive shaft can be detached from the mixing tool when it is accommodated in the interior and can be guided out of the interior through the opening (32). 3. Container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the drive device has a threaded spindle (40) which can be connected to the piston via the opening (32). 4. Container according to claim 3, characterized in that the opening has a thread adapted to the threaded spindle. W202DE0 : &Ggr;-&iacgr;&egr;* : ·" · "··: 5. Container according to claim 3, characterized by a driver piece (44) that can be screwed onto the threaded spindle and can be inserted into the opening (32) in a sealing manner. 6. Container according to one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the threaded spindle can be driven by means of a rotary knob (42, 62) and this is rotatably connected to the container body (10) via a snap or locking connection. 7. Container according to claim 6, characterized in that the snap or locking connection is provided on the open end region of the container body opposite the outlet (12). 8. Container according to claim 6, characterized in that the snap or locking connection is provided at the outlet-side end of the container body and the threaded spindle (40) extends through the outlet (12) into the interior. 9. Container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the drive device has a push rod which can be connected to the piston (26) via the opening (32) and enables a step-by-step or gradual piston advance via an external pressure and/or tilting actuation. 10. Container according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the outlet (12) can be sealed with an attachable closure element (22), which is preferably designed as a screw cap and is further preferably provided with a child safety lock. W202DE0 11. Container according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the outlet is closed by means of a sealing closure that can be destroyed or reclosed at least during mixing operation.