Dispensing – With plural openings or discharge guides – Having flow controllers or closures
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-27
2003-06-24
Derakshani, Philippe (Department: 3754)
Dispensing
With plural openings or discharge guides
Having flow controllers or closures
C222S496000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06581808
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a cap intended to fit a container of the type used for packaging and dispensing products, preferably cosmetic products such as hair-care products, body-care products, skin-care or makeup products, or sun-protection products. The present invention also relates to containers fitted with such a cap.
In the field of cosmetics, particularly in the field of hair-care products (shampoos and conditioners) or body-care products (shower gel or liquid soap), a good many products are intended to be used in the shower. One of the problems encountered with the containers commonly used for packaging such products stems from the fact that these containers generally have an end wall and are surrounded by a neck fitted with a screw-on closure or with a dispensing cap snap-fastened or screw-fitted onto the neck. On use, the closure has to be unscrewed or the cap has to be opened, the bottle has to be inverted (waiting or shaking the bottle if the bottle is almost empty), the walls of the bottle have to be squeezed to force the desired amount of product out, and the bottle has to be set down stably, and preferably restoppered using one hand, to prevent spillage in case it gets knocked over.
Recently, packaging assemblies equipped with a cap that has a flat surface so that the bottle can rest on a surface in a head-down orientation have appeared on the market. The cap is opened by squeezing the walls of the container, the cap being closed more or less automatically under the effect of the pressure created within the container and/or of the elasticity of the material of which the opening valve, also known as a “teat”, is formed.
Hence, there already exist caps, marketed in particular by the company Seaquist® or Coster®, having an elastomeric membrane through which at least one slit passes. At rest, the membrane has a concave profile, the edges defining the slit being contiguous enough to provide the required level of sealing. When there is a pressure increase within the container, particularly after each use, the slit opens toward the container so as to allow air to be taken into the container. Under the pressure of the product, the membrane is capable of inverting and of exhibiting a convex profile suited to the dispensing of product through the slit.
One drawback with this type of cap stems from the hollowed profile of the membrane between two uses, which hollowed profile is liable to retain product which will dry out and which, apart from looking unattractive, may disrupt the correct dispensing of product in a subsequent use. Furthermore, behavioral studies have shown that the user, out of curiosity, tends to wish to use the device in the head-up configuration so as to watch the product coming out through the membrane. The inverting of the membrane, which takes place at relatively high speed and in sharp steps, may cause a drop of product to be expelled. The drop thus expelled may land in the user's eye.
Furthermore, air intake is problematic with this type of cap insofar as air is taken in through the same passage through which the product leaves. The compromise required in order, on the one hand, to ensure correct sealing of the container between two uses when the container is inverted to the head-down configuration and, on the other, to allow for easy dispensing of the product is often difficult to achieve.
Hence, one of the optional subjects of the invention is to produce a cap intended to fit a container, preferably a container designed particularly for packaging cosmetic products, and wherein the cap may solve one or more of the problems mentioned hereinabove with reference to the conventional devices.
In particular, one optional subject of the invention is to produce a cap simply and economically, which offers good flexibility in use, and which makes it possible to maintain satisfactory cleanliness and hygiene in the course of use.
Another optional subject of the invention is to produce such a cap which offers a good compromise between effective air intake without appreciably detracting from the sealing of the container on which it is mounted and easy dispensing of the product.
Yet another optional subject of the invention is to provide a container having a dispensing cap according to the invention, wherein the assembly offers good peace of mind when being transported, is stable when stored head down, and allows the product to be immediately available for use.
Other subjects may become apparent in the detailed description which follows. It should be understood that certain aspects of the invention could be practiced without accomplishing one or more of these subjects.
According to one aspect of the invention, a dispensing cap is provided for a product container, preferably a container designed particularly for packaging a cosmetic product. The cap comprises a movable member having a valving portion capable, depending on the pressure within the container, of selectively opening and closing a product-dispensing orifice, the movable member being held on the cap by an elastically deformable mounting element, the mounting element also forming a sealing member within the cap, the sealing member being capable of allowing selective opening and closing of at least one air intake passage that is separate from the product-dispensing orifice.
Air may be taken in through one or more passages separate from the passage through which the product leaves. Optionally, when determining the operating parameters of such a cap, the ease with which the product can be dispensed does not have to be sacrificed for the sealing required between two uses, and vice versa. Between two uses, the air intake passage or passages may be shut off in sealed fashion, which may make it possible to maintain correctly sealed packaging. Furthermore, the same mounting element may hold the movable member in the dispensing orifice and define the sealing member capable of selectively opening and closing the air intake passage(s).
In one embodiment, the valving portion of the movable member is capable, under the action of an elastic return force exerted by the mounting element, and in the absence of raised pressure within the container, of pressing elastically on a seat at least partially defining the dispensing orifice. The valving portion may be capable, in response to a raised pressure within the container, of moving away from the seat to allow product to be dispensed through the orifice, and may be capable of returning to press in sealed fashion on the seat when the raised pressure ceases.
The valving portion of the movable member may be returned to the closed position under the combined action of the return force generated by the elastically deformable mounting element and of the pressure generated within the container in response to the dispensing of a dose of product.
In one possible embodiment, the mounting element is arranged along an axis X within an opening in a wall of the cap, a portion of the mounting element retaining the mounting element within the opening.
In one example, the seat at least partially defining the dispensing orifice is formed by the mounting element itself. Thus, when the mounting element is obtained by molding an elastomeric material, the seat on which the valving portion of the movable member presses may be elastically deformable, which may contribute to improving the seal when the dispensing orifice is closed.
The air intake passage(s) may be formed between an edge defining the opening in the wall and the mounting element. The air intake passage(s) may be formed of a continuous annular passage formed right around the mounting element or of a number of discontinuous passages spaced uniformly around the mounting element.
For example, the mounting element is at least partially made of an elastomeric material chosen from thermoplastic elastomers or crosslinked elastomers. By way of example, mention may be made of nitriles, butyls, silicones, natural or synthetic latices, EPDMs, polyurethanes, blends of polypropylene and SBS, SEBS or EPDM, very-low-density polyethylene
Derakshani Philippe
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP
L'Oreal (S.A.)
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