Dispensing – With discharge assistant – Fluid pressure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-19
2001-08-14
Jacyna, J. Casimer (Department: 3751)
Dispensing
With discharge assistant
Fluid pressure
C222S001000, C222S321700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06273303
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a fixing member for fixing a dispenser device such as a pump or a valve to the neck of a container. For example, in order to fix the body of a pump to the neck of a flask, it is necessary to use a coupling piece which may be in the form of a ring or of a fixing turret, or else in the form of a crimped capsule. A snap-fastenable or screw-on ring or turret, and a crimpable capsule constitute the two techniques that are in most widespread use in the perfumery and cosmetics industry.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Accompanying
FIG. 2
shows a dispenser device
4
equipped with a fixing member in the form of a plastics ring to be snap-fastened onto the neck of a container. Accompanying
FIG. 1
shows the fixing ring only. In general, such a dispenser device, which may be a pump or a valve, is constituted by a body
41
defining an outwardly-projecting rim
42
at its top end. An actuating rod
43
projects upwards beyond the rim
42
. A pushbutton
4
provided with a nozzle
45
is mounted on the actuating rod
43
. Conventionally, the dispenser device is actuated by pushing the pushbutton
4
so that the actuating rod
43
penetrates into the body
41
. Such a dispenser device design is quite conventional and is in no way critical for the present invention.
To fix such a dispenser device to the neck of a container (not shown), the fixing ring
1
that is used comprises fixing means for fixing to the neck of the receptacle, and body-receiving means for receiving the body
41
of the dispenser device
4
. In that prior art ring
1
, the fixing means are in the form of snap-fastening catches
12
whose bottom ends are provided with inwardly-projecting snap-fastening heads
13
. The snap-fastening catches
12
are flexible enough to enable the snap-fastening heads
13
to pass over the neck of the container and to snap-fasten below said neck. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the ring
1
is fixed permanently onto the neck by means of a locking band
3
which covers the fixing ring
1
so that the snap-fastening heads
13
cannot move radially outwards. Permanent fixing is thus achieved. The means provided on the fixing ring
1
for the purpose of receiving the body
41
of the dispenser device
4
are in the form of a snap-fastening recess
17
, in which the rim
42
of the body
41
is engaged by force. The snap-fastening recess
17
is formed by a cylindrical wall
16
whose bottom end is connected to the snap-fastening catches
12
via an annular flange
11
, and whose top end is extended by another annular flange
18
provided with a through hole
19
in its center for passing the actuating rod
43
. To enable the rim
42
to be received by snap-fastening in the recess
17
, the inside of cylindrical wall
16
is provided with snap-fastening bulges which locally narrow the entrance to the snap-fastening recess
17
. Such a fixing ring design is quite conventional.
Recently, attempts have been made to reduce the height between the top end of the pushbutton
4
and the annular coupling flange
11
of the fixing ring
1
, for reasons of esthetic appearance. The inside surface of the coupling flange
11
constitutes the abutment surface against which the sealing gasket that is placed on the neck of the receptacle is disposed. As a result, the height between the pushbutton
4
and the flange
11
constitutes the height over which the dispenser device projects beyond the neck of the receptacle. In fields such as those of perfumery and of cosmetics, in which the esthetic appearance of the dispenser is particularly important, it is naturally preferred for that height to be as small as possible so as to leave very little of the dispenser device visible on the container. For any given dispenser device, the pushbutton-to-flange height is determined directly by the height of the cylindrical wall
16
connecting the flange
11
to the flange
18
, as shown in FIG.
1
.
Therefore, the technical problem for the present invention is to make it possible to reduce the distance between the two flanges
11
and
18
. This is not possible with a prior art fixing ring as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
. In order for the snap-fastening recess
17
to be resilient enough to enable the cylindrical wall
16
to deform radially outwards when the rim
42
passes between the snap-fastening bulges
15
, it is absolutely essential for the cylindrical wall
16
to be tall enough. It is therefore not possible to reduce the height, because, at the coupling flange
11
and at the top flange
18
, the wall
16
has no resilience. This requirement that the cylindrical wall
16
must be resilient is also necessary for removing the fixing ring
1
from its mold when the pin that has served to mold the recess
17
is to be extracted. If the wall
16
tis not resilient enough, it is not possible to extract the pin from the recess without damaging the coupling flange
11
. For both of these reasons related firstly to unmolding, and secondly to snap-fastening the rim
42
of the body
41
of the dispenser device, it is not technically possible to reduce the height of the cylindrical wall
16
of a prior art fixing ring as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is thus to mitigate that drawback of the prior art by defining a fixing member in which the distance between the coupling flange and the end flange is as short as possible.
The invention achieves this object by means of a fixing member for fixing a dispenser device to the neck of a container, said fixing member comprising a ring made of a plastics material and provided with fixing means for fixing to the neck of the container, and a metal dished washer received in the ring and provided with holding means for holding the dispenser device. The combined use of a plastics ring and of a metal dished washer offers the combined advantages of a ring that is made of plastic (i.e. that is easy to fix by snap-fastening or screw engagement) and of a dished washer that is made of metal (i.e. that enables the fixing device to be held by crimping). The use of a plastics ring makes it possible to accommodate several simple and quick fixing modes that require no special tool, and makes it easy to clad the ring with an outer band of attractive appearance. Crimping the fixing device by means of a metal dished washer takes up only a very small amount of height since the problems of resilience related to the cylindrical wall of the prior art ring no longer exist. The dished washer is deformed only once the fixing device is already in place ready for crimping. It is thus possible to deform the dished washer over a height that is very small compared with the height of the cylindrical wall of the prior art fixing ring. Therefore, the operation of mounting the fixing member on the dispenser device begins with the dished washer being mounted onto the rim of the dispenser device. Naturally, this operation is preferably performed by crimping, although other fixing methods are not excluded. Then, the dished washer as equipped with its dispenser device is engaged in the plastics ring in which it may advantageously be received by snap-fastening. The dispenser device as equipped with its fixing member is then ready to be mounted on the neck of a container by using a sealing gasket interposed between the dished washer and the neck of the container. Depending on the fixing mode used, the ring is either screwed on or else it is snap-fastened to the neck of the container, and it is then locked by a band.
The dispenser device as equipped with its dished washer thus constitutes a sub-assembly that is engaged in a plastics ring which, depending on the fixing mode chosen, is provided with snap-fastening means or with screw-engagement means. The dished washer thus constitutes a standard element for any given dispenser device, whereas the plastics ring provides a certain amount of modularity concerning the technique used to fix it to the neck. It should also be noted that such a plastics ring is extremely simple to mold since it is almo
Campfort Christian
de Pous Olivier
Jacyna J. Casimer
Rockey Milnamow & Katz Ltd.
Valois S.A.
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