Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Filling means with receiver or receiver coacting means – Receiver actuated discharge means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-29
2002-05-21
Maust, Timothy L. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Filling means with receiver or receiver coacting means
Receiver actuated discharge means
C141S346000, C141S348000, C141S363000, C141S364000, C141S365000, C141S366000, C141S002000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06390156
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND—FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of systems for the gravity-assisted transfer of liquid or dry material from one container into another, specifically to a dispensing system, and a method for its manufacture, which has a threaded bottle cap style of dispensing assembly that can be securely locked into a paired receptacle to provide both hands-free and spill-free material transfer. The restrictive configuration of the receptacle, specific to that of its paired dispensing assembly, prevents similar locking connection with nearly all other types of dispensing assemblies. Also, the spring-biased valve closure member of the paired dispensing assembly remains in a closed configuration to block material flow until the dispensing assembly becomes fully seated within the receptacle. Flow only occurs while the dispensing assembly is within the receptacle and is blocked again as soon as the dispensing assembly begins to be drawn away from the receptacle. The present invention dispensing assembly comprises a bottle cap member, valve closure member, coil spring, spring nut, spring housing upwardly depending from the bottom inside surface bottle cap member, small holes through the bottom surface of the bottle cap member adjacent to the spring housing, and at least one notch through the bottom rim of the bottle cap member with a side channel adjacent to and above the rim. Further, the spring housing has a top central opening through which the activation pin of the valve closure member is inserted when it is in both its open position immediately above the spring housing and its closed position engaging the upper surface of the spring housing. In its closed position, the valve closure member covers the small holes through the bottom surface of the bottle cap member and blocks material flow. The receptacle of the present invention has a housing with an upper opening sufficiently wide for receipt of the entire bottle cap member, a protrusion on its inside surface at a height allowing the protrusion to enter the bottle cap member's side channel and the channel to rotate relative to the protrusion once the dispensing assembly is fully positioned within the receptacle, a discharge opening centrally through the bottom of the housing, an upper flange radially extending from the upper opening for use in secure positioning of the receptacle housing during connection and disconnection of the dispensing assembly, and a spring nut engagement member secured within the discharge opening. Optionally, the receptacle can have a hinged dust cap configured to temporarily seal its upper opening between material transfer uses. To initiate material flow with the present invention, one first attaches the threaded end of dispensing assembly to an upright container holding material targeted for transfer, and secures the paired receptacle to the top portion of the intended receiving vessel. The holding container is then inverted, without any of the material therein being spilled, and the bottom rim of the bottle cap member moved toward the receptacle. As the holding container is manipulated to insert the connected bottle cap member into the receptacle, one must rotate the bottle cap member relative to the receptacle while simultaneously moving the bottle cap member longitudinally closer to the receptacle bottom, so that the protrusion on the inside surface of the receptacle is able to pass through a notch in the bottom rim to enter the side channel adjacent to the bottom rim. When the bottle cap member becomes fully seated within the receptacle, several things happen. The top surface of the spring nut engagement member in the receptacle pushes against the tip of the activation pin to unseat the valve closure member a short distance to initiate material flow, and continued rotation of the bottle cap member repositions the channel relative to the protrusion to transport the notch away from the protrusion and thereby lock the dispensing assembly to the receptacle. The coil spring within the spring housing automatically draws the valve closure member back into its seated position against the spring housing once counter-rotation occurs and the activation pin attached to the valve closure member is drawn away from the spring nut engagement member in the receptacle. The disk-like spring nut situated at one end of the spring near the open end of the spring housing, has a cutout pattern that assists alignment of the spring nut engagement member with the tip of the activation pin for even lifting and reseating of the valve closure member against the spring housing. One contemplated application of the dispensing system herein is by manufacturers of equipment requiring periodic renewal of dry and liquid materials for their operation to limit the supply source of such materials.
BACKGROUND—DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
For most industrial and commercial dispensing applications, a spill-free transfer of liquid and dry materials from a holding container to a receiving vessel is desired. When a spill-free transfer is attempted by hand, typically the holding container for the material to be dispensed is at least partially inverted by the operator to initiate gravity-assisted flow of the material into the receiving vessel. The receptacle into which the gravity-assisted flow of material is directed can be on the top of the receiving vessel, or on a vertical surface near to the receiving vessel's upper surface. If it is left up to the operator to uncover the dispensing opening on the holding container and simply align it with the receptacle in the receiving vessel while upending the holding container, spills will undoubtedly occur. Even if a dispensing cap were used that restricted the size of the dispensing opening during upending, or aligned it with the receptacle while the operator held it close to or against the top of the receptacle during the entire period of material transfer, it is still expected that occasional spills would occur. Also, if the entire contents of the holding container does not need to be transferred, it would be difficult to right the holding container without spilling at least a little of the non-transferred material. The best means for spill-free gravity-assisted transfer of dry or liquid material from an inverted holding container into a stably positioned receiving vessel would involve a dispensing cap that did not allow transfer of material to begin until the dispensing cap was firmly secured to the receptacle in the receiving vessel, a dispensing cap that could stand alone in a locking type of engagement with the receptacle in the receiving vessel, without operator support during material transfer, and a dispensing cap that could be manipulated to block transfer of any material remaining in the holding container immediately prior to disengagement of the dispensing cap from the receptacle. The present invention provides all of these advantages, and further provides the advantage of its bottle cap assembly having a spring nut with a cutout pattern that only allows engagement with a paired receptacle having a spring nut engagement member with a specific and complementary configuration. Thus, the source of replacement materials added to a receiving vessel could be controlled and limited to only those materials in holding containers fitted with dispensing cap assemblies that are configured for full insertion within the receiving vessel's receptacle and interaction with the receptacle's spring nut engagement member to initiate material flow.
The prior art thought to be the most closely related to the present invention is the invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,840 to Simmel (1999). The Simmel invention is also a locked product-dispensing valve assembly. However, there are important differences between the present invention and the Simmel invention, a significant one being that the Simmel product-dispensing valve assembly is not inserted completely within its paired tank adapater, as can be seen in FIGS. 4 and 29. The portion of the Simmel invention attached to
Hetherington Michael
Pahl Richard Charles
Maust Timothy L.
Morse Dorothy S.
LandOfFree
Method and system for transfer of fluid and dry materials... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and system for transfer of fluid and dry materials..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and system for transfer of fluid and dry materials... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2858635