Dispensing – With container handle or handgrips – Handle and actuator for flow controller or closure...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-10
2001-08-07
Shaver, Kevin (Department: 3754)
Dispensing
With container handle or handgrips
Handle and actuator for flow controller or closure...
C222S131000, C222S511000, C222S518000, C222S505000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269984
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a dispensing stopper for a bottle, and more specifically, to a dispensing stopper for a bottle such as a carafe and which is characterized by the absence of flow passages in the stopper itself which would require periodic cleaning.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Bottles of various sorts have long been provided with stoppers which seal the bottle when a liquid contained therein is not to be dispensed. Many such stoppers, as, for example, conventional bottle caps, are not replaceable and cannot be reinstalled on the bottle when the contents of the bottle have only been partially consumed. Other stoppers are simply screw on caps which must be totally separated from the bottle when its contents are to be dispensed. Because such stoppers are completely separated from the bottle when the bottle is opened, not infrequently the stopper may be lost making it impossible to reseal the bottle or requiring resort to some other type of closure device. Moreover, because extensive manipulation of the cap is required, opening and closing the bottle is not as convenient as might otherwise be the case.
To avoid these and other problems, a variety of dispensing stoppers have been suggested. These types of stoppers are typically removably fixed to the bottle to be sealed and require only the application of an opening force to a lever or the like to cause the stopper to unseal the bottle when its contents are to be dispensed. While these stoppers work well in the sense that they do not require extensive manipulation to seal or unseal the bottle, they are not without drawbacks of their own. Typical of these stoppers is an internal conduit that is in fluid communication with the interior of the bottle as well as the exterior of the bottle as, for example, at a pouring spout. When these stoppers are placed in the environment where they are required to be reused, it is necessary to thoroughly clean the interior conduit to assure that liquid passing therethrough in a prior use has not left any residue. Such residue, depending upon the contents of the bottle, could provide a source for the growth of bacteria, or result in the contents of the bottle being dispensed through the stopper in a subsequent use having a flavor imparted thereto that may be undesirable as a result of it being of a different liquid than that being dispensed or simply as a result of degradation occurring to the residue while in the internal conduit.
In any case, careful washing of the stopper may be required to assure that there is no residue remaining within the internal conduit from previous pours in such stopper. And because the conduit is internal to the stopper, and will typically be provided with some sort of valving or flow control device, the opportunity for the accumulation of residue from liquids being dispensed is significant.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the above problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a principal object of the invention to provide a new and improved dispensing stopper for a bottle. More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide such a stopper which eliminates the need for extensive cleaning of an internal, valved conduit within the stopper. It is also an object of the invention to provide a new and improved dispensing stopper of simple and economic construction.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention achieves the foregoing object in a dispensing stopper that includes a stopper base adapted to be mounted on the mouth of a bottle. A seal is mounted on the base and the seal includes a fixed section fixed to the base along with a movable gasket section movable toward and away from the stopper base and away and toward a sealing surface about the mouth on a bottle to which the base is to be mounted. The seal also includes an integral, thin web of resilient material peripherally interconnecting and sealing the fixed section and the movable section. An actuator attachment section is affixed to the movable section of the seal and a lever is pivoted to the base and to the actuator attachment section at spaced locations.
As a consequence of the foregoing, the application of a pivoting force to the lever will move the gasket section toward the fixed section to move the gasket section away from the mouth of a bottle on which the base is mounted to allow liquid to be poured from the bottle. The absence of the force allows the resiliency of the web to return the gasket section toward the mouth of a bottle on which the base is mounted to seal the same. Liquid flow is past the stopper, and specifically, the gasket section of the seal thereof, and not through the stopper at all or any valves located within internal passages within the stopper.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the lever is elongated with opposite ends. One of the ends includes a force receiving section and the other of the ends is pivoted to the actuator attachment section. The lever is pivoted intermediate its ends to the base.
In one embodiment, the base includes a radially inwardly directed circular flange and the actuator section includes a radially outward directed circular edge. The seal is a unitary ring of resilient elastomer with the fixed section having a radially outward opening groove sealingly receiving the flange and the gasket section having a radially inward opening groove sealing and receiving the edge of the actuator section.
In a preferred embodiment, the web interconnects the fixed and gasket sections at their peripheries.
In a highly preferred embodiment, the web interconnects the fixed and gasket sections at their radially outer peripheries.
One embodiment of the invention contemplates the provision of interengaging guides on the base and the attachment section to guide the attachment section in a path of reciprocating movement.
A preferred embodiment envisions that the attachment section include upstanding pivot blocks receiving a pivot pin on the lever other end.
A highly preferred embodiment includes a cap secured to the base and one of the cap and the base includes spaced saddles for receiving a pivot located intermediate the ends of the lever and the other of the cap and the base includes spaced projections aligned with and directed toward the saddles for holding the pivot in the saddles.
According to another facet of the invention, a preferred embodiment includes a cap on the base. A funnel-like structure is formed in the cap and extends to an opposite side of the stopper. In this configuration, the cap may be utilized with a carafe or the like for holding coffee. The same may be placed under a brewing machine to capture a stream of freshly brewed coffee in the funnel-like structure and direct the same to the interior of a bottle on which the base is mounted.
In one embodiment of the invention the funnel-like structure includes an inverted, somewhat conical surface at the top of the cap with a depending conduit extending through the attachment section. A further seal is located at the interface of the conduit and the attachment section.
The invention also contemplates a dispensing bottle having an internally threaded mouth and a pouring spout thereat. The mouth has a peripheral sealing surface inwardly of the threaded mouth. A stopper such as mentioned before includes threads on the base which are threaded into the threaded mouth to mount the base on the bottle. The gasket section of the seal normally sealingly engages the peripheral sealing surface about the mouth of the bottle.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2363693 (1944-11-01), Robinson
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patent: 3799408 (1974-03-01), Palmer
patent: 4351451 (1982-09-01), Chung
patent: 4648535 (1987-03-01), Zimmermann
patent: 4671436 (1987-06-01), Hagan
patent: 4676411 (1987-06-01), Simasaki
patent: 4768664 (1988-09-01), Zimmermann
patent: 4942976 (1990-07-01), Spencer
patent: 5037015 (1991-08-01), Collins
patent: 5240145 (1993-08-01), Hogberg
patent: 5265767 (1993-11-01), Gustafson
patent: 5497917 (1996-03-01), Krimmel et al.
patent: 5615808 (1997-
Nicolas Frederick
Shaver Kevin
The Thermos Company
Wood Phillips VanSanten Clark & Mortimer
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