Aerosol Containers

Abstract

A liquid-dispensing (e.g. aerosol) container has a long plunger tube with a free end weighted by a cup and a ball carried thereon, the ball being embraced in fluidtight manner by the cup with formation of a void therebetween communicating on the one hand with the bore of the tube and on the other hand with the interior of the container via one or more passages in the cup.

Description

This invention relates to liquid dispensers.

It is known that a supply container containing a liquid and gas under pressure permits, by means of a plunger tube terminated by a valve, the dispensing of this liquid.

When the plunger tube is rigid, the container can be used only in one position since, if it is turned upside down, the operation of the valve merely lets the gas escape, which renders the container unserviceable.

Flexible supply tubes, loaded at their free end, are already known. This end of the tube passes through a bead, whose weight always directs the said end toward the lowest part of the container, thus ensuring the immersion of this end in the liquid.

This very satisfactory arrangement has never been put into practice on account of the elevated cost price of the ensemble of valve, tube, load.

The tube, in order to have the necessary flexibility, should be extremely slender, which renders difficult, if not impossible, its mounting on the nozzle of the valve by automatic means. Furthermore, the weight, in the form of a bead, is expensive, especially, when made of stainless steel, tin, or glass. It is necessary to add to this price the cost of the difficult threading of the bead onto the tube.

The present invention avoids these various disadvantages.

According to the invention, the plunger tube carries at its free end an element capable of enclosing a dense body of definite volume and shape, the enclosure forming at least one passage connecting the interior of the container with the interior of the plunger tube.

Preferably, the dense body is a spherical member such as a marble, which obviates the problem of relative orientation of this body and of its enclosure.

In a preferred embodiment, the element carrying the body is in fluidtight contact therewith, and, with the end of the tube extending axially with respect to that element, the passage or passages are provided near the junction between the tube and the enclosure; the length of the tube ranges advantageously between one and two times the internal height of the container.

In order to be sufficiently flexible without excessive reduction in diameter, this tube is preferably flattened. For automatic mounting of the valve and its support, the flattening is preferably carried out after the assembly of these two elements.

The accompanying drawings shows by way of example one embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing;

FIG. 1 is a section through an aerosol-dispensing container equipped with a plunger tube according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an axial section, on a larger scale, of the free end of the plunger tube and the elements associated therewith; and

FIG. 3 is a section along the line III-III of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, a metallic container 1 in the form of a bottle is partly filled with liquid 21, the free space 3 being filled with gas under pressure. A push valve 4 is joined by its collar 5 to the neck of container 1.

The inlet of valve 4 is secured to a flexible plunger tube 6 whose outer and inner diameters are as small as possible for permitting easy assembly of the valve on the tube by automatic means. The length of this plunger tube 6 is a function of the length and depth of the container.

The length of tube 6 is preferably between one and two times the internal height of the container. Advantageously, this length is equal to the height of the container increased by a third of that height.

Onto the end of the plunger tube is threaded a central tubular nipple 7 of a cup 8, of a shape somewhat greater than a hemisphere. The element 7, 8 can be molded of flexible plastic material, e.g. polyethylene.

Nipple 7, centered on the cup axis, has an internal shoulder 9 limiting the insertion of tube 6. Received in the cup 8 with a force fit is a marble 10 held captive with this cup.

Several bosses 11 on the inner surface of the cup prevent the marble 10 from coming into contact with the base of this cup.

Because of the space thus provided between the cup and the marble, passages 12 provided near nipple 7 permit communication between the exterior of the cup and the interior of the tube 6, while the force fit of the marble in the cup ensures a sealed joint between these two elements along a narrow contact zone 13 between the cup and the marble. The elasticity of bosses 11, forcing the marble against the zone 13, contributes to the sealing contact.

Finally, as shown in FIG. 3, tube 6 is flattened between nipple 7 and valve 4, as shown at 6a, so as to facilitate its flexing.

The weight of the marble always biases the end of the plunger tube toward the lowest part of the container, this end being therefore always immersed in the liquid, whatever the position of the bottle. Further, the length of the tube ensures its engagement at a point near the assembly 6, 7 with the inner wall of container 1, so that nipple 7 is urged towards the lowest point of the container. The tube is thus continuously in an inflected position so as to draw the marble toward the base if the container is turned upside down. The openings 12 are thus always located below the highest point of the zone 13. As the contact between the cup and the marble is fluidtight, neither the liquid nor the gas can pass in this zone between the cup and the marble, which forces the liquid to penetrate into the tube 6 the level of openings 12. The liquid is therefore always almost completely evacuated from the container.

Claims

I claim:

1. A liquid dispenser comprising a container adapted to be filled with a liquid and with a gas under pressure; valve means at an end of said container for the optional discharge of said liquid therefrom; a flexible tube in said container having a first end secured to an inlet of said valve means and having a freely movable second end terminating in a hollow element; and a heavy, rigid body gripped by said element with formation of a void therebetween communicating with the interior of said tube, said element having at least one passage connecting said void with the interior of said container, the length of said tube being sufficient to let said element occupy the lowest point of the container in any position thereof under the weight of said body.

2. A dispenser as defined in claim 1 wherein said body is partly enclosed by said element with sealing fit.

3. A dispenser as defined in claim 2 wherein said body is substantially spherical.

4. A dispenser as defined in claim 3 wherein said element is an elastic cup and extends around more than half of said body with fluidtight peripheral contact along the rim of the cup.

5. A dispenser as defined in claim 4 wherein said cup is provided near its axis with internal projections maintaining its base spaced from said body, said passage being disposed in the vicinity of said projections.

6. A dispenser as defined in claim 5 wherein said cup is formed along its axis with a nipple engaging said second end.

7. A dispenser as defined in claim 1 wherein said tube is flattened between the ends thereof.

8. A dispenser as defined in claim 1 wherein the length of said tube ranges between one and two times the maximum dimension of said container.