HK1163045B - Dispenser and refill unit - Google Patents

Description

Dispenser and refill unit

Technical Field

The present invention relates to dispensers for dispensing liquid soap or the like.

Background

The dispenser has a base unit into which a refill unit containing the material to be dispensed fits in an inverted configuration, i.e. with the outlet of the refill unit at the lowermost end. The present invention is specifically designed for a free-standing soap dispenser suitable for use in a home environment. However, it may also be applied to wall-mounted units and may be used for larger devices such as public toilets. The unit may have a manually operated pump for dispensing the liquid, but is preferably provided with a proximity sensor to sense the presence of a user's hand and has a pump for automatically dispensing the liquid.

Since the device is primarily intended for the domestic market, it is essential that the refill unit can be replaced by the consumer in a very easy and very simple manner without confusion, which is annoying for the consumer at best and damaging the dispensing mechanism at worst.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the invention, a dispenser comprises a base unit with an actuating mechanism for dispensing liquid and a refill unit insertable into the base unit in an inverted configuration, the outlet of the refill unit being lowermost to supply liquid to the base unit, the refill unit comprising an annular wall projecting into the refill unit and defining an outlet of the refill unit, the annular wall being closable at its innermost end by a valve element biased against the annular wall, the base unit comprising a hollow spigot and an annular seal surrounding and spaced from the top of the spigot, whereby insertion of the refill unit into the base unit causes the spigot to enter the annular wall and lift the valve element from the annular wall, thereby defining a flow path from the refill unit via at least one cut-out formed in the top of the spigot and/or the bottom of the valve element and down the hollow spigot, and an annular seal is used to seal between the socket and the annular wall.

Such an arrangement provides a mechanism by which the refill unit can be simply lowered onto the socket. This opens the flow path upward. The annular seal forms a seal with the annular wall during opening, whereby leakage can be prevented even during opening.

The invention thus provides a simple and messy way of replacing the refill unit, even when the refill is not completely empty.

The cutaway portion may be formed at the bottom of the valve element. However, this also requires that the valve seat be shaped to match the cut-out in the valve element. Therefore, it is preferred that the cut-out is located at the top of the socket. Preferably, there is more than one cut-out to provide multiple flow paths. In a preferred embodiment, the cutaway portion is effectively in the form of a castellated structure (castellation) on top of the socket.

The valve element may be biased by a spring located on the opposite side of the valve element from the annular wall. Preferably, however, the valve element is biased by at least one resilient member, one end of which is preferably connected to the valve element and the other end of which is connected at a position radially outwardly below the innermost end of the annular wall, the or each resilient member being configured such that, when the valve element is lifted from the annular wall, a flow path occurs between the valve element and the annular wall.

By using at least one elastic element anchored outside the annular wall, the structure of the device can be greatly simplified, since the elastic elements themselves and the means to which they are anchored can be integrated in the existing structure of the refill unit. If the valve element is to be resiliently supported on opposite sides thereof, additional structure is required to support this, thereby complicating the design.

This forms an independent aspect of the invention which may be defined in its broadest sense as a refill unit for a dispenser, the unit comprising an opening at one end which, in use, is the lowermost end, the opening comprising an annular wall which extends into the unit and the innermost end of which may be closed by a valve element biased against the annular wall, wherein the valve element is biased by at least one resilient member connected at one end to the valve element and at the other end to a position radially outwardly below the innermost end of the annular wall, the or each resilient member being configured such that, when the valve element is lifted from the annular wall, a flow path is present between the valve element and the annular wall.

If only a single biasing member is used, it may not be a continuous annular member but must have holes or be of a helical configuration or the like so that a flow path may occur. Preferably there are a plurality of resilient elements with gaps between them to provide said flow path.

The or each resilient member may be manufactured separately from the valve element and then secured together. Preferably, however, the valve element is manufactured integrally with the or each resilient member.

The or each resilient member preferably extends into a surrounding valve plate secured to the cap of the refill unit.

The valve plate may simply be glued, adhered or otherwise secured within the cap. Preferably, however, the valve plate is sandwiched between the cap and a retaining plate which may be snapped into place. Preferably, one or more fixing posts are provided in one of the cover, the valve plate or the fixing plate to position the respective elements relative to each other.

The opening may be a liquid outlet or an air inlet. The configuration of the annular wall, valve element and resilient member is equally applicable in either case.

Drawings

A dispenser and refill unit according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-section of a dispenser;

FIG. 2 is a cut-away perspective view of the refill device positioned within the dispenser but not yet engaged;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the refill unit in an intermediate position;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIGS. 3 and 4 showing the refill device in its fully engaged position;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cap assembly prior to assembly;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the cap assembly after assembly;

FIG. 7 is a cross-section showing the engagement between the bottle neck and the cap assembly;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the lid with the frangible member intact;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 7 after the bottle has been removed from the cap;

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 8 after the frangible member has been broken;

FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view of the lid of the second refill unit;

FIG. 12 is a view similar to FIG. 11 showing the lid assembled;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a pressure relief valve of a second example;

FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 13 showing the pressure relief valve in an open configuration to allow air flow;

FIG. 15 is a view similar to FIG. 4 of a third refill unit shown on the dispenser;

FIG. 16 is a view similar to FIG. 5 of the lid of the third refill unit;

FIG. 17 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the lid of the third refill unit assembled; and

FIG. 18 is a view similar to FIG. 7 of a third refill unit.

Detailed Description

The dispenser is a hands-free dispenser generally adapted for home use. The dispenser is primarily for dispensing liquid soap, but may also be used for dispensing other liquid or semi-liquid products (ideally having a viscosity greater than water), such as hand creams, skin lotions, moisturisers, face creams, shampoos, body washes, hand foam lotions, shaving creams, cleaning solutions, toothpaste, acne creams, surface cleaners or disinfectants such as alcogels.

The dispenser comprises two main components, namely a refill 1 and a base unit 2. The refill device 1 provides a reservoir of liquid to be dispensed and is fitted to a base unit 2 as described below.

The base has an interface 3 into which liquid is dispensed from the refill unit. The mouthpiece 3 is in fluid communication with a dispensing tube 4. The pump 5 is selectively operable to pump a metered amount of liquid along the dispensing tube 4 out of the dispensing head 6.

The substrate has an infra-red emitter 7A which emits an infra-red beam 7A through a window 8 to a receiver 7B to sense the presence of a user's hand in the vicinity of the dispenser. The control circuit reacts to the signal from the proximity sensor to activate the pump. The sensor shown is an interrupted beam sensor, but may also be a reflective sensor. Although infrared sensors are shown, any known proximity sensor, such as a capacitive sensor, may be used. The device may be mains powered or battery powered. Alternatively, it may be a manually operated pump device where the user pushes a lever to replace the product.

The interface between the refill 1 and the base unit 2 will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 2 to 10.

The base unit 2 comprises a housing 10, the housing 10 forming a cup-shaped enclosure surrounding a substantial portion of the refill unit to protect and support the substantial portion. The socket 11 extends through the base of the housing 10 and is sealed to the housing 10 by an O-ring seal 12. The socket has a plurality of castellations 13 on its top surface. A second O-ring seal 14 surrounds the socket 11 below the tooth formation 13.

The refill 1 comprises a bottle 20 to which a cap 21 is secured. The bottle 20 has a neck 22, the neck 22 fitting over an annular flange 23 in the cap 21 and sealing with the annular flange 23. The lid 21 has an upwardly depending skirt 24 (when in the inverted orientation as shown), the skirt 24 forming the outer surface of the lid. Described inwardly from the skirt 24, the next feature of the lid is an outer annular wall 25 which is generally coaxial with the skirt 24.

This is shown in detail in figures 5 to 10.

The outer annular wall 25 is constituted by a pair of holders 26 and a pair of supports 27, as shown in fig. 5, 6, 8 and 10, the holders 26 and the supports 27 alternating with each other and each extending for about a quarter of a circle. The support 27 is profiled as shown in figure 2. These members extend directly upwardly from the bottom wall of the lid, stand parallel and have an inclined upper surface 28. The profile of the retainer 26 is shown in fig. 7 and 9. Unlike the support 27, the retaining member is not fixed to the wall of the cover. Instead, as best shown in fig. 6 and 8, they are secured at either end to the support 27 by frangible members 29. The holder 26 stands parallel and has an inclined upper surface 35 as shown in fig. 7 and 9.

As shown in fig. 7 and 9, the neck 22 of the bottle has an inclined outer surface 36 complementary to the inclined surfaces 28 and 35 of the annular wall 25. Behind the inclined outer surface 36 is a shoulder 37 facing the body of the bottle 20. The inclined outer surface 36 and the shoulder 37 are only in the vicinity of the holder 26 and not in the vicinity of the support 27. Adjacent the support 27, the neck 22 has a parallel standing configuration as shown in figure 2.

To insert the bottle 20 into the cap 21, the bottle 20 is pushed down so that its neck fits over the annular flange 23. The inclined outer surface 36 of the bottle cooperates with the inclined surfaces 28, 35 to move the retainer 26 radially outwardly until the shoulder 37 snaps into place behind the retainer 26, as shown in fig. 7. When the bottle 20 is pulled out of the cap 21, the shoulder 37 abuts against the retaining member 26, thereby breaking the frangible element 29, so that the retaining member 26 is detached from the cap 21, as shown in fig. 9 and 10. Once this occurs, the cap can no longer be retained on the bottle, thereby preventing the refill 1 from being used later.

It should be noted that it is not necessary to disengage both retaining members 26 from the lid. It may be that only one of these retaining members is disengaged or that one or both retaining members are simply moved to a position where they can no longer engage the neck of the bottle.

Returning now to fig. 2-4, the liquid outlet and associated valve will now be described.

An annular wall 30 surrounding a central opening 31 provides a liquid outlet for the storage container. At the top of the annular wall 30 is an inclined surface 32 (see figure 4), the inclined surface 32 providing a valve seat for an outlet valve member 33. This is shown in the form of a U-shaped cup, but could equally be a solid piece or a hollow ball. The outlet valve member 33 is biased in its closed position by a plurality of biasing members 34. The upper ends of these biasing members are attached toward the top of the valve element 33 and their lower ends are attached at a location radially outward of the annular wall 30 and below the top of the annular wall 30. They are preferably formed integrally with the valve element 33.

As shown in fig. 2 to 4, when the refill 1 is lowered into the base unit 2, the socket 11 engages with the lower surface of the valve element 33, as shown in fig. 3. Further downward movement of the refill lifts the valve element 33 from its seat and also brings the O-ring 14 into sealing engagement with the annular wall 30. The valve element 33 is lifted to the position shown in figure 4. In this position, liquid in the bottle 20 is able to flow around the biasing member 34 and enter the socket via the tooth formation 13, thereby flowing into the base unit 2. Liquid is prevented from leaking out between the socket 11 and the annular wall 30 by the O-ring seal 14. This arrangement provides for the consumer to insert the refill device in a simple and non-messy manner regardless of the fill level of the refill device.

To remove the refill unit, the consumer lifts it off the base and the biasing member 34 then returns the valve element 33 to the seat 32. During this movement, the seal between the socket 11 and the annular wall 30 is maintained by the O-ring seal 14. The spent refill is then replaced with a new refill according to the above steps.

The cap is provided with a pair of relief valves 40. Each relief valve is formed by an annular boss 41 integral with the cap 21. The relief valve element 42 sits atop the annular boss 41 and is biased into position by a pair of biasing members 43 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5). Under normal conditions, the biasing force causes the relief valve element 42 to form an airtight seal over the boss 41. However, when the pressure within the bottle 20 drops below a certain level, the pressure differential across the relief valve element 42 is sufficient to overcome the force exerted by the biasing member 43 and allow air to enter the bottle 20. This reduces the pressure differential, thereby restoring the hermetic seal without liquid leakage.

Each relief valve 40 is surrounded by an annular partition 44, the annular partition 44 extending axially to a height axially above the height of the top of the annular wall 30. In this way, any air entering the pressure relief valve 40 will not be entrained in the oncoming liquid flow when the valve element 33 is open. In practice this means that the pressure relief valve can be placed close to the outlet, thereby resulting in a more compact lid. Although two pressure relief valves are shown, a single valve or more than two valves may be provided if necessary.

Figures 5 and 6 show the manner in which the lid is assembled.

The assembly is a three-part structure consisting of the cap 21, the valve plate 45 and the fixing plate 46. The lid has a number of molded features including an annular flange 23, an annular wall 25 and an annular boss 41. In addition, the cover 21 has a plurality of fixing stays 47.

The valve plate 45 is an elastomeric material and is integrally formed with the valve element 33, the biasing member 34, the relief valve element 42 and the biasing member 43. The valve plate has a plurality of positioning holes 48 corresponding to the fixing posts 47.

The retaining plate 46 is made of a hard plastic material and is integrally formed with the annular partition 44. Like the valve plate 45, the fixing plate 46 is also provided with a plurality of positioning holes 49 corresponding to the fixing posts 47.

To assemble the lid, as shown in fig. 6, the three components are placed one on top of the other, and the retaining posts enter the alignment holes to ensure that the components are properly aligned. The top of the fixing post 47 is then heated or an adhesive is applied to the top of the fixing post 47, thereby fixing the fixing post to the fixing plate 46. The elastomeric valve plate 45 is thereby sandwiched between the cap 21 and the retaining plate 46, with the retaining plate 46 holding the valve elements 33 and 42 in place.

A second example of a lid for a refill unit will now be described with reference to fig. 11 to 14.

The structure of the outlet valve member 33 in the second example is substantially the same as that in the first example, and will not be described again with respect to the second example.

As can be seen in FIG. 11, the cap 21 is integrally molded with a number of features such as the annular walls 25 and 30 and the tapered portion 50 of the pressure relief valve as will be described below. There is provided a resilient lip 53 (described in more detail below) for the pressure relief valve which is integrally moulded with the valve plate 45. The fixing plate 46 is also provided with a baffle 57 for the relief valve. This is equivalent to the diaphragm 44 in figure 2 but extends only around the side of the pressure relief valve facing the outlet valve member 33. The baffle 44 and the baffle 57 may be used interchangeably in both examples.

The cap assembly was assembled in the same manner as the first example.

The pressure relief valve 60 is shown in fig. 13 and 14.

The valve has a tapered portion 50 which is an integral part of the cap 21 as described above. At the top of the conical section 50 is a cylindrical post 61. The resilient lip 53 is effectively a hollow frusto-conical extension of the valve plate 52 of resilient material extending along the conical portion 50, the hollow frusto-conical extension being slightly offset from the conical portion 50 and a tight fit with the post 61. At least one air inlet 62 (also shown in fig. 11) passes through the wall of the conical portion 50 and is generally covered by the resilient lip 53, as shown in fig. 11. As the pressure within the bottle 20 drops as the liquid is poured, the pressure differential across the resilient lip 53 will eventually become sufficient to displace the lip 53 to a sufficient extent to allow air a to enter the bottle 20, as shown by the arrows in fig. 8. It should be noted that the extent to which the resilient lip 53 is lifted from the conical element 50 is exaggerated in fig. 8, and in practice this is almost imperceptible.

Instead of sealing the struts, the resilient lip 53 may seal the tapered section 50. In this case the lip will not deviate from the tapered portion as shown. Instead, it actually has a smaller angle of inclination than the angle of the tapered portion 50, thereby naturally leaning onto the tapered portion.

Examples of the third refill unit will be described below with reference to fig. 15 to 18. This is in most respects the same as the first embodiment, and only the significant differences are described here.

As can be seen in fig. 15, the outlet valve element 33' is shaped differently. In this case there is a reduced diameter portion 60, which reduced diameter portion 60 fits within the annular wall 30 to help seal the annular wall when the valve is closed.

The pair of pressure reducing valves 40 has been replaced by a single conventional umbrella valve 61.

The retainer 26 with its frangible element 29 has been replaced by a plurality of interrupted shoulders 62, as shown in figure 18, which shoulders 62 engage with complementary shoulders 63 on the neck of the bottle 20. The flange 64 prevents the neck of the bottle from deflecting inwardly. Once in the position of fig. 18, the engagement between the shoulders is strong enough to prevent the cap from being removed from the bottle for all practical purposes. This is facilitated by a key arrangement 64 on the cap as shown in figures 16 and 17, the key arrangement 64 engaging a complementary projection (not shown) on the bottle to prevent relative rotation between the cap 21 and the bottle 20.

Claims (12)

1. A dispenser comprising a base unit with an actuation mechanism for dispensing liquid and a refill unit insertable into the base unit in an inverted configuration, the outlet of the refill unit being lowermost to supply liquid to the base unit, the refill unit comprising an annular wall projecting into the refill unit and defining an outlet of the refill unit, the annular wall being closable at its innermost end by a valve element biased against the annular wall, the base unit comprising a hollow spigot and an annular seal surrounding and spaced from the top of the spigot, whereby insertion of the refill unit into the base unit causes the spigot to enter the annular wall and lift the valve element from the annular wall, thereby defining at least one cut-out from the refill unit via the top of the spigot and/or the bottom of the valve element and along the hollow A flow path down the socket and the annular seal for sealing between the socket and the annular wall, wherein the valve element is biased against the annular wall by at least one resilient member, the valve element being made integrally with the resilient member and the resilient member extending into a surrounding valve plate secured to a cap of the refill unit.

2. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the at least one resilient member is connected at one end to the valve element and at another end to a location radially outwardly below an innermost end of the annular wall, the resilient member being configured such that when the valve element is lifted from the annular wall, a flow path occurs between the valve element and the annular wall.

3. A dispenser according to claim 1 or 2, wherein there are a plurality of resilient elements with gaps between them to provide the flow path.

4. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the valve plate is sandwiched between the cap and a retaining plate.

5. The dispenser of claim 4, wherein one or more retaining posts are provided in one of the cover, valve plate or retaining plate to position the various elements relative to one another.

6. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the refill unit is filled with a liquid having a viscosity greater than water.

7. A refill unit for a dispenser, the refill unit comprising an opening at one end which is lowermost in use, the opening comprising an annular wall which extends into the refill unit and which innermost end is closable by a valve element biased onto the annular wall, wherein the valve element is biased by at least one resilient member connected at one end to the valve element and at the other end to a position radially outwardly below the innermost end of the annular wall, the resilient member being configured such that when the valve element is lifted from the annular wall a flow path occurs between the valve element and the annular wall, wherein there are a plurality of resilient elements with gaps therebetween to provide the flow path, the valve element being manufactured integrally with the resilient member, and the resilient member extends into a surrounding valve plate secured to the cap of the refill unit.

8. A refill unit according to claim 7, wherein the valve plate is sandwiched between the cap and a retaining plate.

9. A refill unit according to claim 8, wherein one or more fixing posts are provided in one of the cap, valve plate or fixing plate to locate the various elements relative to one another.

10. A refill unit according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the opening is a liquid outlet and the valve element is a liquid outlet valve element.

11. A refill unit according to claim 7, wherein the opening is an air inlet and the valve element is an air relief valve element.

12. A refill unit according to claim 7, filled with a liquid having a viscosity greater than water.