Dispensing – Resilient wall – Supply container delivering to receiving chamber
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-19
2002-02-05
Bomberg, Kenneth (Department: 3754)
Dispensing
Resilient wall
Supply container delivering to receiving chamber
C222S212000, C222S361000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06343716
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a metering end-fitting for dispensing a fluid product in the form of doses of predetermined volume, especially a cosmetic product such as a shampoo, a conditioner, a gel, a lotion, a milk, etc. The invention also relates to a packaging and dispensing assembly fitted with a metering end-fitting according to the present invention.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the cosmetics field in particular, many hair products, particularly shampoos, are packaged in containers having deformable walls, the neck of which is closed off by a wall pierced at its center with one or more small holes for expelling the product. In order to dispense the product, the container is turned upside down and pressure is exerted on the deformable walls of the container to allow the product to be forced through the hole or holes. The product is collected in the palm of the user's hand and applied to his or her hair. However, this simple hand movement does not allow the amount of product dispensed to be metered.
Admittedly, there are devices for metering a product to be dispensed, but they are of such complexity that their cost is completely inappropriate to the economic requirements of certain distribution channels, particularly the mass market.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,600 describes a metering end-fitting of the type having a metering chamber formed inside a piston, a free end of which is provided with openings capable of allowing the metered expulsion of the product. The openings in the metering chamber are exposed by means of pressure exerted by the product on one face of the piston. The product then flows under gravity while the openings are exposed. When expelling the product, the closure element substantially emerges from the metering chamber. One of the problems associated with such a design stems from the fact that the element ensuring closure of the outlet holes in the metering chamber forms one piece with the piston. Consequently, the amplitude of the movement of the closure element is identical to the amplitude of the movement of the piston. Expulsion of a large dose of product requires a large-amplitude movement of the closure element, and so a bulky dispensing head with a closure element which, in the dispensing position, emerges considerably outside the metering chamber. Such a design is relatively detracting from an aesthetic standpoint, particularly when used for the packaging of cosmetic products. An alternative would consist in using a metering chamber having a larger cross section so that expulsion of the dose requires a shorter travel by the piston, and therefore by the closure element, but to drive the piston would require a high pressure which would be incompatible with the constraints relating to the use of cosmetic products.
Furthermore, although such an end-fitting is particularly appropriate for the metered dispensing of readily flowable liquid products such as drinks, it cannot be easily used for dispensing viscous liquid products, such as those commonly used in the cosmetics field. This is because the viscosity of these products does not permit the dose of product to flow sufficiently rapidly, merely under its own weight. Furthermore, the openings are formed from holes pierced in the wall of the metering chamber, and are therefore oriented radially with respect to the cross section of the metering chamber. Thus, at expulsion, the product leaves with an essentially radial component, which may be acceptable when the product flows solely under its own weight. On the other hand, such radial expulsion is completely unacceptable when the product leaves under pressure since it becomes difficult to gather the dispensed product in a localized manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,904,227 describes an end-fitting for metered dispensing of a product, which comprises a metering chamber inside which a piston is slidably mounted. Passing through the piston is an axial channel which terminates near the free end of the piston in a radial portion opening onto an outlet hole. In the rest position, the outlet hole is closed off. In order to dispense a dose of product, the outlet hole is exposed due to the pressure of the product being exerted on the piston. The product flows through a radial portion of the channel, passes into the axial part of the channel and leaves through the radial outlet hole. In the same way as for the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,600, expulsion of the product is accompanied by a movement, outside the metering chamber, of a closure element integral with a piston, the amplitude of the movement depending on the dose to be dispensed.
Furthermore, in the same way as for the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,600 the product leaves with a very large radial component, which does not allow localized dispensing of the product. In particular, in the case of a cosmetic product, it is difficult to collect the dispensed product in the palm of one's hand. Furthermore, the necessary passage of the product through the axial channel inside the piston makes the device particularly unsuitable for high flow rates, in particular for products having a high viscosity. In addition, such an axial channel is subject to fouling, in particular after a long period of non-use, which may make the device completely unusable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One of the objects of the invention is to provide a metering end-fitting which completely or partly solves the aforementioned problems.
A further object of the invention to provide a metering end-fitting in which the movement of the closure element, closing off an outlet passage of the metering chamber, is not linked to the volume of the dose to be dispensed so that, even for doses of large volume, the movement of the closure element, especially outside the metering chamber, has a limited amplitude.
Yet a further object of the invention to provide a metering end-fitting which can be easily used and has a low manufacturing cost.
Another object of the invention to provide a metering end-fitting which is particularly suitable for the metered dispensing of products having a high viscosity.
Yet another object of the invention to provide a metering end-fitting which allows the metered and localized dispensing of a product under pressure.
According to the invention, these and other objects are achieved by a metering end-fitting intended to be mounted on a container containing a product, and comprising a metering chamber inside which a piston is slidably mounted, the piston being mounted so as to be able to pass from a first position in which the metering chamber has a maximum volume to a second position in which the metering chamber has a minimum volume. The metering chamber comprises at least one inlet passage which is open when the piston is in the first position and closed in a substantially sealed manner when the piston is in the second position, the piston being coupled to a closure element which, in the first position of the piston, closes off, in a substantially sealed manner, at least one outlet passage in the metering chamber and frees the outlet passage when the inlet passage is closed, the closure element moving with a shorter travel than the travel of the piston.
In practice, the closure element moves with a travel corresponding approximately to the axial height of the inlet passage, during which travel the closure element ensures that the outlet passage in the metering chamber is kept substantially closed as long as the inlet passages in the metering chamber are open. Next, once the or each outlet passage is exposed, the closure element is immobilized. From that moment on, only the piston moves inside the metering chamber so as to expel the dose that it contains. In other words, the closure element is integral with the piston only over a portion of the piston's travel. Thus the dispensing of doses of larger volume is permitted, while limiting that portion of the closure element which emerges out of the metering chamber when dispensing the dose. Thus, the aesthetic appearanc
Baudin Gilles
Bonningue Philippe
Bomberg Kenneth
L'Oreal
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