Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Processes – Filling dispensers
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-25
2003-03-25
Douglas, Steven O. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Processes
Filling dispensers
C141S018000, C141S329000, C347S086000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06536484
ABSTRACT:
This application claims priority to the foreign application filed on Apr. 25, 2000, in Europe and having a serial number of 00303442.8.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a container and a process for filling said container.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is common for containers designed to hold products of various types to be filled by machine. Typically, these machines are production line machines designed to achieve high speed filling and are operated by trained personnel. In this case, there is no requirement for specially designed fill points to the containers, and the common method is to fill through the container neck or dispense aperture.
It is also known for a vending system to fill containers at sites located in offices and workplaces. Typically, containers designed to work with these machines are also filled through the dispense aperture or the open mouth of the container.
Specialized containers for garden products are known in the art that have separate filling and dispense apertures, whereby the apertures are optimized for filling and dispense. However, these containers are not vended or filled by machine.
There also exists in the art a container for herbicides that requires two apertures for the metering and dispensing of product. This container is filled through one of the two apertures only in order to allow a rapid fill. The second aperture contains the metering chamber, which obstructs the fill path. Such products are not vended or dispensed at the point of sale, but are filled on the production line by trained personnel using specialised filling equipment.
A number of unique problems exist in situations where a product is to be dispensed by a vending system at the point of use or sale.
By “vending system” is meant a machine that dispenses product in response to one or more selections that are input into the machine by the user. Such a system may be operated by coin, token, card or other suitable means.
By “filling point” in the present invention, is meant the region of the vending system in which a container is placed for filling to occur.
By “filling head” in the present invention, is meant the nozzle of the vending system which dispenses the product.
In such cases, the user will be untrained in the art of dispensing and filling containers. For example, the user may not place the container in the correct position for filling and/or the user may not remove the closure, such as a cap that is present on the container, prior to commencing the filling process.
It is highly desirable to avoid such problems that may be associated with dispensing product using a vending system at the point of use or sale.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided an enclosed container comprising at least one first aperture, the or each first aperture being provided with a first closure means and through which the contents of said container may be dispensed upon at least partial removal or opening of at least one said first closure means, and at least one second aperture which is or are independent of said first aperture or apertures, the or each second aperture being provided with a second closure means and through which second aperture or apertures the container may be at least partially filled upon at least partial removal or opening of one or more of said second closure means.
The present invention further provides a process for filling a container, which comprises positioning said container in a vending system which is provided with a dispensing means, in such an orientation and position that said dispensing means and said fill aperture are in engagement with one another.
By “independent” in the present invention, is meant that the first aperture is located at a position on the container which is apart from that of the second aperture.
It will be appreciated that within the scope of the present invention, “independent” is also intended to encompass a situation wherein the second aperture is located in the closure of the first aperture, that is to say whilst the second aperture shares a common path to the interior of the container, the first aperture cannot be considered identical to that of the second aperture.
Containers for the dispensing of products are well known in the art and are in widespread use.
Such containers are available in a wide variety of shapes and forms. They may be assembled from a wide variety of components, and may be manufactured from a wide variety of materials. Suitable materials include plastics materials, by way of example, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene (PE), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and barrier laminates such as PET/NYLON/PET and PP/BAREX®/PP etc. (BAREX® is a trade mark of BP Amoco plc), wood, metals such as aluminum, iron, and copper, metal alloys, ceramics and glass.
In one embodiment of the present invention, said container may be manufactured from a plastics material. As such, said container may be manufactured by any conventional process for the forming of plastics material.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said container may be manufactured by an extrusion or injection blow-moulding process.
The container may include any dispensing, dosing or application feature or device providing the means to dispense the product in a wide variety of ways.
The container may include provision for manual or powered dispensing.
The container may be of any scale or size that is relevant to the product or the product use.
The container may comprise any number, combination and orientation of first and/or second apertures that meet the needs of the product, its intended use or its method of use.
The nature of the first aperture closure means is not limited and may be of any kind commonly used in the art.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the second aperture is located in the closure means of the first aperture. As such, the container design may be simplified, in that the container requires only a single aperture. For example, a reed valve may be conveniently located in the closure means of the first aperture.
The container may include any device or mechanism for filling.
Use of an independent second aperture allows filling to occur with or without the first aperture closure means being in place.
The nature of the second aperture closure means is not limited in the present invention, and may be of any kind commonly used in the art, provided that said second aperture closure means can open and re-close by some function of the filling process, by the action of the vending system or mechanism thereof, or by the inherent nature of the fill aperture.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the independent second aperture closure means may comprise a cap component with a central cover as a second component; said cover being attached to the cap wall by means of a flexible member, arranged such that the central cover can be depressed by the action of inserting into the vending system such that the cover moves away from the sealing surface thereby opening the cap. Once filled, the container is removed from the system allowing the cover component to return to its closed state.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the second aperture closure means comprises a moulded ring forming an open tube attached to the container such that the tube communicates with the container interior; said ring being closed by a cover, which effects a seal by means of a mechanical interference; said cover being attached to the ring by a hinging member such that the cover can hinge open; and said cover having one or more protruding members arranged horizontally and/or vertically such that when the container is placed in the filling point of the vending system, said protruding members are acted upon by one or more elements such as bars or shaped members (which may be components of the vending system, in particular components of the filling point, the filling head, the positioning guides between the container and the filling point,
Hewlitt Timothy
Kelsey Steven
Maskell William
O'Brien Jerard
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