Special receptacle or package – For mixing – Means to manipulate without rupture
Patent
1997-10-29
2000-04-11
Sewell, Paul T.
Special receptacle or package
For mixing
Means to manipulate without rupture
206219, 206568, 215DIG8, B65D 8132
Patent
active
060478187
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to apparatus for separately storing and subsequently mixing two components of a substance to be dispensed.
Dual component dispensers for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and other fluid preparations typically comprise a chamber receiving a liquid and a separate compartment for a powder or liquid which is required to be separately stored until immediately prior to use of the mixture, this being particularly necessary where the mixture degrades rapidly with age.
Some known arrangements rely upon a seal being penetrated by a needle to initiate mixing, such arrangements being complex and requiring assembly from numerous components.
It is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,614,267 to provide a vial which can be manually opened by manipulation through the sides of a flexible container within which it extends. Such an arrangement is however unsuitable to most applications where rigid or semi-rigid containers are required.
DE-U-8624484 describes a dual component dispenser having a rotatable cap to which is joined a cylindrical inner container for receiving one substance. Co-operating projections on the rotatable cap and the inner container provide mutual locking between those two components. Further co-operating projections on the inner container and an outer container in which the inner container is located limit the extent of relative rotation between the inner container and the outer container. Thus when the cap is rotated, after an initial period of rotation of the inner container relative to the outer container, further rotational movement is prevented and the cam action between the projections on the cap and on the inner container cause the inner container to be sheared downwards. The inner container falls into the oater container allowing the substances contained in the two containers to be mixed.
According to the present invention there is disclosed apparatus for separately storing and subsequently mixing first and second components of a substance to be dispensed, the apparatus comprising a container defining a chamber for receiving the first component, a closure member rotatably mounted about a tubular neck of the container to close an outlet of the container defined by said neck, a vial comprising a first portion formed integrally with the closure member and a second portion releasably connected in sealing engagement with the first portion to define therebetween a compartment for receiving the second component, and vial opening means comprising cooperating cam formations on the closure member and the second portion of the vial actuatable by co-axial rotational movement of the closure member about the container neck to move the second portion out of sealing engagement with the first portion to thereby establish communication between the chamber and the compartment for mixing of the first and second components, characterised in that the cam formations comprise a helical cam surface defined by a projection of the closure member and a co-operating cam member of the second portion of the vial, and means are provided on the internal wall of the container and co-operating with the cam member to prevent rotation of the second portion relative to the container during opening such that-rotational movement of the closure member displaces the cam member axially in a direction away from the first portion of the vial.
An advantage of such an arrangement is that the user may readily open the vial to promote mixing of the first and second components simply by external manipulation of the closure member and container so that the container may be rigid or semi-rigid in construction. A further advantage is that the apparatus is assembled from a limited number of components and is therefore relatively inexpensive to manufacture and simple to assemble.
Conveniently the second portion of the vial comprises a hollow cylindrical body and the cam member projects radially therefore.
Preferably the cam member if resiliently biased into contact with the rotation preventing means provided by ratchet formations.
An advant
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Cater Miro Stan
Warby Richard John
Bespak plc
Bui Luan K.
Sewell Paul T.
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