Dispensing – With relatively movable actuator for outlet element
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-03
2001-11-27
Shaver, Kevin (Department: 3754)
Dispensing
With relatively movable actuator for outlet element
C222S321700, C222S321900
Reexamination Certificate
active
06321952
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a device for actuating a sprayer, particularly suited to actuating a sprayer equipped with a manual pump.
As is conventional, this type of pump comprises a push-button on which pressure has to be exerted manually in order to deliver a dose of product.
As each action on the push-button is performed manually, both the effort exerted and the time for which the effort is exerted cannot be reproduced perfectly from one spraying operation to the next, which means that the doses thus delivered are not all identical.
In certain applications, particularly in the field of pharmacology, in which applications it is necessary to obtain perfectly reproducible doses, that is to say doses containing the same amount of active principle and which produce the same dispersion of droplets after delivery, it is known practice for the sprayer to be fitted with an attached actuating device of the type comprising a support against which the sprayer is intended to rest and a member for actuating the push-button which can be moved axially with respect to the support under the action of manoeuvring means between a position in which the push-button is depressed and a position in which it is released, the manoeuvring means comprising elastic means for urging the actuating member into the position for depressing the push-button, and disengagable means for locking the actuating member in the position for releasing this button.
In this type of device, the action exerted on the push-button of the sprayer is provided by a mechanical member, which makes it possible to obtain an actuating force and duration which can be perfectly reproduced and therefore makes it possible to supply identical doses of product.
However, the actuating device is armed manually by a translational movement by exerting effort both on the support and on the manoeuvring means, against the action of the elastic means.
Thus, this type of device exhibits a certain number of drawbacks, particularly on account of the fact that arming it requires the user to exert a relatively large amount of physical effort to counter the effort provided by the spring.
Furthermore, the user naturally, in order to exert this effort, tends to position the device and the sprayer it contains horizontally, and this tends to give rise to malfunctioning in the sprayer.
The object of the invention is to alleviate these drawbacks.
The subject of the invention is therefore a device for actuating a sprayer of the aforementioned type, characterized in that the manoeuvring means comprise a rotary knob which can be actuated manually by a user and which is associated with a cam designed to cause the actuating member to move from the position in which the push-button is depressed to the position in which this button is released.
Thus, as the device can be armed by rotating the knob, the travel of the manoeuvring member from its position in which the push-button is depressed to its position in which this button is released, is longer than was the case in actuating devices that employed arming through a translational movement, thus accordingly reducing the effort that needs to be exerted in order to counter the effort applied by the spring.
Furthermore, in order to perform this movement, the user naturally tends to hold the device and the sprayer in the vertical position. This thus avoids the occurrence of malfunctioning with the sprayer.
The actuating device according to the invention may further comprise one or more of the following features, taken in isolation or in any technically feasible combination:
the cam consists of a roughly cylindrical part secured to the knob and equipped with an end edge delimiting a guiding surface for at least one follower borne by the actuating member, the end edge comprising at least one elemental saw-tooth pattern;
the member for actuating the push-button comprises a stem equipped with a proximal end resting against the push-button and a distal end coaxial with the cam and equipped with arms extending radially and each carrying a follower;
the means for locking the actuating member in the position of releasing the push-button comprise a locking piece which can be moved radially between a radially internal active position for immobilizing the stem and in which it forms a stop against which a complementary bearing surface of the stem abuts and a radially external inactive position of freeing the stem, and an elastic member for urging the said piece into the active position;
the stem has a flat extending axially between the distal end and the bearing surface, against which flat a complementary lateral flat surface of the locking piece rests as the stem moves;
the knob pivots about a cylindrical guide through which the stem for actuating the push-button passes, with the interposition of one-way running elements;
the support comprises at least one front opening for the passage of a dose of product, and the proximal end of the stem has a head equipped with an axial slot in which a nozzle with which the push-button is equipped for dispensing the product is engaged;
the support has an attached removable bottom against which the body of the sprayer rests;
the device further comprises a fold-down arm articulated to the support and intended, in the deployed position, to rest against a surface that is to be sprayed, so that the sprayer can be positioned with respect to this surface.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2136940 (1938-11-01), Ehbrecht
patent: 2815885 (1957-12-01), Haas
patent: 3150800 (1964-09-01), Weber III
patent: 3162335 (1964-12-01), Kogan et al.
patent: 3858762 (1975-01-01), Meshberg
patent: 4033487 (1977-07-01), Micallef
patent: 4069949 (1978-01-01), Ryckman, Jr.
patent: 4789083 (1988-12-01), Gutierrez
patent: 5152425 (1992-10-01), Baudin
Cassier Didier
Illel Brigitte
Saunal Henry
Alexander Michael D.
Nicolas Frederick C
Sanofiosynthelabo
Shaver Kevin
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