GB2160402A - Dispenser for liquid, powder or granular material - Google Patents

Abstract

An elongate container 10 is filled with material at one end 13 and has at its other end an aperture 12 through which this material is dispensed when closure means, e.g. spigot 21, is released by manual actuation of lever 17. Accurate and economical placement of the material, e.g. weedkiller, is thus accomplished. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Dispenser for liquid, powder of granular material This invention relates to a dispenser for liquid, powder or granular material.

Hitherto powder (dust) or granular weed-killers have usually been applied to sites of action, e.g.

flower beds, lawns, pavements, in a rough and ready manner, for example by sprinkling from a trowel or trailing from a hole in a plant pot.

Occasionally, small cylindrical cardboard containers with holes punched in one end face, after the manner of well-known scouring powder/ breadcrumb containers, are provided. These containers can be filled with weedkiller which is then shaken out onto an area where weeds are to be killed.

Obviously, contact of the weedkiller with an operative's hands is to be avoided and the aforesaid methods of application do achieve this aim to some extent. However, whenever weedkiller is to be applied to certain specified parts of a large area, such as along the borders of paving stones, or gravestones by a parkkeeper or local government gardener, all of these methods have the disadvantage that the powder or granules are spread more widely than required. This is, of course, uneconomical. Moreover, these methods are not particularly quick or convenient due to the requirement for numerous re-fills from a larger store of weedkiller when a large area is to be attended to.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a dispenser suitable for dispensing powder and granular weedkiller and other substances, and also for dispensing liquid if need be, which permits quick, accurate and thus economical placement of such substances and has a reasonable storage capacity so as to minimise the number of refills needed to complete any job.

With this object in view, the invention provides a dispenser for liquid, powder and granular material comprising an elongate container having an aperture at one end and lever-operated closure means for said aperture.

Preferably the container has, at its other end, a funnel-shaped hopper with a wide mouth to facilitate the filling of the container with liquid, powder or granular material. A lid or cap is preferably provided to fit over the mouth of the hopper. This lid or cap may conveniently be formed as a beaker, cup or dish so that it can be used for filling the container.

About half way along its length, the container advantageously has a lateral handle adjacent a layer which actuates the closure means.

The closure means advantageously comprises a spigot which is capable of being inserted into and withdrawn from the aperture at the one end of the container. Such an arrangement is preferred compared to provision of closure means in the form of a cover to respectively block and reveal the aperture since the former arrangement is selfcleaning whereas the latter tends to become blocked or ineffective due to accumulation of powder or granules around the aperture between the cover and the wall of the container.

The aforesaid spigot is conveniently provided by an end portion, preferably an upturned end portion, of an elongate member connected to the lever. This elongate member is advantageously adjustable in length, for example by means of a screw connection, so that the distance by which the spigot projects through the aperture for effective closure of the aperture can be varied to suit different types of material to be dispensed.

The elongate member is advantageously springbiassed so that the spigot is urged into the aperture, i.e. into its closure position, the spring bias being overcome, of course, upon actuation of the lever, The lever advantageously extends through a transverse channel provided through the container.

This ensures that the lever is maintained in correct operational position at all times. The dispenser is in this and other respects of robust construction and not readily susceptible to mechanical failure.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a broken side view of a preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail illustrating attachment of the handle and the lever to the container shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view ofthe delivery head of the dispenser shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a similar view of another delivery head.

As iliustrated, a preferred embodiment of the dispenser of the invention comprises an elongate container 10 in the form of an aluminium tube about 1.5 m long and about 7 or 8 cm in diameter. At one end of the container 10 there is a delivery head 11 (Fig. 3) including an oblique portion 31 in which is formed a single outlet aperture 12 approximately on the central axis of the tube and a downward projection 32 formed with a groove 33 leading towards the aperture 12. At the other end of the container 10there is afunnel-shaped hopper 13 with a wide mouth. A lid or cap in the form of a cylindrical beaker 14 is inverted and fitted over the mouth of the funnel-shaped hopper 13.

A laterally-projecting handle 15 is located about halfway along the length of the container 10, but slightly more towards the hopper 13 than the delivery head 11. For ease of manufacture and to minimise the weight of the dispenser, this handle 15 is advantageously simply a hollow rod or flattened piece of tubing welded to the exterior of the container 10. Adjacent to the handle 15 in the direction of the delivery head 11, a channel or passageway 16 is provided transversely of the container 10 as shown in Fig. 2. This channel 16 is formed by cutting aligned holes at opposing places on the container wall and affixing therebetween, for example by welding, a flattened piece of tubing. A lever 17 extendsthrough this channel 16 and is pivoted on a shaft 18 in the form of a balt extending across the narrowest dimension of the flattened tubing.Although the channel 16 obviously restricts the interior of the container 10 at that point, material can pass freely from one end of the container interior to the other at each side of the channel 16.

At the opposite side of the container 10 to the handle 15, the lever 17 is pivotally connected to an elongate member, namely a thin metal rod 19, which extends outside the container adjacent the container wall towards the delivery head 11. The free end of the lever 17 which lies beneath the handle 15 is twisted to provide a flat hand hold 27.

At its free end 20, the rod 19 is upturned in the manner of a hook, the upturned end portion providing a spigot 21 which is guided in the groove 33 and projects into the aperture 12 in the delivery head 11. This spigot 21 has an inclined end face.

The rod 19 is supported adjacent the container 10 by two spaced-apart brackets 22, 23. A spring 24 is connected between an abutment 25 on the rod 19 and the bracket 23 so as to bias the rod 19 upwards, as viewed in Fig. and urge the spigot 21 inwardly of the aperture 12 to its closure position.

The rod 19 is also provided, adjacent its attachment to the lever 17, with a screw connection 26 whereby the length of the rod 19 can be adjusted.

The significance of this will be explained shortly.

In use, the container 10 is filled with any desired material, for instance, and purely byway of example, granular weedkiller. Using the detached lid or cap 14, material is easily shovelled into the mouth of the funnel-shaped hopper 13. When the container 10 is filled to a sufficient extent, the lid or cap 14 is replaced and the container is held by an operative by the handle 15 with the delivery head 11 directed downwards towards the particular place where weedkiller is to be applied.The operative's hand which grips the handle 15 can easily reach around the adjacent handhold 27 of the lever 17 and when this lever end region 27 is pulled towards the handle 15, the other end of the lever 17 of course pivots downwards and pushes the rod 19 downwards against the action of the spring 24 so that the spigot 21 is sufficiently withdrawn from the aperture 12 to allow the granularweedkillerto flow therethrough. Thus the weedkiller is accurately delivered exactly where required, for example on particular clumps of weeds, or in straight lines around the edges of paving stones or gravestones or at the boundary of an area of grass and an area of tarmac. This is obviously a quick, convenient and economical method of dispensing weedkiller.

As previously mentioned, the length of the rod 19 can be adjusted by the screw connection 26. In view of the inclined end face of the spigot 21, for coarse granular material the spigot 21 does not need to project very far into the aperture 12 to prevent the material flowing out through the aperture 12, but it does need to be withdrawn sufficiently in the open position, when the lever 17 is actuated to let the coarse grains through. Accordingly the rod 19 should be adjusted to be relatively longer for coarse material. Conversely, for powder, dust or liquids, the spigot 21 has to project further into the aperture 12 in its closure position to ensure that no material falls through yet it needs to be withdrawn less far when the lever is actuated to allow material to fall out. Accordingly, the rod 19 should be adjusted to be relatively shorter for fine materials and liquids.

The length of the rod 19 can also be adjusted for different rates of flow of material dependent on the degree of withdrawal of the spigot 21 and thus the degree of opening of the aperture 12 when the lever 17 is actuated.

Provision of the spigot 21 moving inwardly and outwardly of the aperture 12 in a substantially downwardly facing part of the delivery head 11 has been found especially advantageous in minimising the likelihood of blockage of the aperture 12 or seizure of the opening/closing mechanism.

The delivery head 11 may in fact be formed as a separate component which fits by friction into the end of the tubular container 10. Such a head 11, as shown in Fig. 3, can then be removed and replaced by an alternative head, for example the head 11a shown in Fig. 4which has a wider aperture 12a suitable for dispensing larger granules. A short tube 40 can also be fitted onto the head 1 lea when liquid is to be dispensed from the container 10.

In an alternative embodiment (not shown) annular closure means may be raised and lowered by a lever-operated elongate member to cover and uncover an aperture in the side of the container adjacent the end thereof. With this arrangement granular material and powder soon become lodged between the annular means and the external surface of the container adjacent the aperture and further movement of the annular means is hindered.

Accordingly this embodiment is not favoured.

It will be appreciated that the dispenser is not confined to the exact details of the foregoing embodiment and many variations are possible within the scope of the invention. For example, the closure means and the elongate member connecting the lever to the closure means could conceivably be located inside the wall of the container, perhaps in a special compartment. Also, spreader means may be detachably provided on the inside or outside of the delivery head, and, of course, the container may alternatively be made of plastics or any other suitable material depending on the material to be dispensed and the length and diameter of the container may t varied. In particular, a model which is sm ier overall could be produced for use in domestic g dens.

Moreover, of course, the dispenser can be used to dispense a wide variety of material, not just weed killer which has only been used as an illustrative example of the usefulness of the device. Another particular use of the dispenser could be in marking out areas of playing fields etc. with granular marker material. As previously mentioned the dispenser can also be used for powders, dusts and liquids.

Claims (13)

1. A dispenser for liquid, powder and granular material comprising an elongate container having an aperture at one end and a lever-operated closure means for said aperture.

2. A dispenser as claimed in claim 1 wherein the container has, at its other end, a funnel-shaped hopper with a wide mouth.

3. A dispenser as claimed in claim 2 wherein a lid or cap in the form of an inverted beaker, cup or dish is fitted over the mouth of the hopper.

4. A dispenser as claimed in claim 1,2 or 3 wherein the container has, about mid-way along its length, a lateral handle adjacent the leverwhich actuates the closure means.

5. A dispenser as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the lever extends through a transverse channel provided through the container.

6. A dispenser as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the closure means comprises a spigot which is capable of being inserted into and withdrawn from the aperture at the one end of the container.

7. A dispenser as claimed in claim 5 wherein the spigot is provided by an end portion of an elongate member connected to the lever.

8. A dispenser as claimed in claim 7 wherein the elongate member lies outside the container and the spigot is provided by an upturned end portion of the elongate member.

9. A dispenser as claimed in claim 7 or 8 wherein the elongate member is adjustable in length by means of a screw connection so that the distance by which the spigot projects through the aperture for effecting closure of the aperture can be varied.

10. A dispenser as claimed in claim 7,8 or 9 wherein the elongate member is spring-biassed so that the spigot is urged into the aperture to close same.

11. A dispenser as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the aperture is provided in a delivery head which in use is directed downwardly.

12. A dispenser as claimed in claim 11 wherein spreader means are provided on the delivery head.

13. A dispenser for liquid, powder and granular material substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.