Safety Heater For Pressure Dispensed Product

Abstract

An attachment for heating shaving cream or the like material being dispensed from an aerosol-type container having a depressible hollow valve stem through which the material is discharged includes a casing of heat and electrical insulation material having a base at its lower end provided with a downwardly open bore adapted to fit upon the valve stem. A flow passage having highly heat conductive walls extends from the bore to a lateral opening in the casing. A confined body of heat storage material, such as water, alcohol, powdered metal or the like, is sealed within the casing in surrounding relation to the flow passage. The body of heat storage material is heated by an electrical resistance heating element arranged within the casing in surrounding relation thereto. The heating element has such a short connection to the usual electrical wall outlet that normally the connection must be broken to enable the user to conveniently dispense heated material.

Parent Case Text

This is a continuation of Ser. No. 686,576 filed Nov. 29, 1967 for SAFETY HEATER FOR PRESSURE DISPENSED PRODUCT, and now abandoned.

Description

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The broad concept of heating shaving cream during dispensing is known. The available methods used are mainly hot water from the nearest tap or electrical heating of the dispensing passage. The invention deals with the latter, and it provides a safety feature which does away with the necessity of switches, fuses, thermostatic controls and like complex and/or expensive safety features hitherto considered necessary for safe usage of these devices.

The major object of the invention is to provide a method and an attachment for heating shaving cream or the like being dispensed from an aerosol or like pressurized container wherein a dispensing passage is surrounded by a heat storage and transfer medium heated by an electrical resistance wire having such a short detachable connection to the usual electrical wall outlet that normally the connection must be broken while the warmed shaving cream is being dispensed during shaving.

Further objects of the invention relate to details of structure for carrying out the foregoing as will appear in the specification and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view mainly in section showing the invention according to a preferred embodiment; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view showing another embodiment.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A heater assembly 11 according to the invention is illustrated as mounted upon a conventional type aerosol container 12 for dispensing shaving cream to be warmed as it is dispensed.

The aerosol container 12 illustrated is preferably of the general type disclosed in Abplanalp U.S. Pat. No. 2,631,814 having a top mounted valve assembly 13 for controlling selective discharge under pressure of the contents of the container. The valve assembly comprises a stem 14 vertically reciprocable within a body 15 suitably anchored rigidly to the container as at 16. A spring 17 biases stem 14 upwardly to valve closed position where the lateral passage 18 is closed by the resilient sealing seat annulus 19. Passage 18 intersects a longitudinal stem passage 20 that extends to an open end within the upper end of the stem which projects above the container. When stem 14 is pushed sufficiently downwardly passage 18 moves below seat 19 to communicate with the interior bore 21 of body 15 and allow the pressurized contents of the container to discharge through bore 21 and passages 18 and 20. When stem 14 is released, spring 17 recloses the valve to stop such discharge.

Heater assembly 11 comprises a plastic casing or shell 25 having a base portion 26 integral or otherwise rigid therewith formed with a downwardly open bore 27 shaped to snugly fit upon the upper end of valve stem 14. Base 26 is formed with a through aperture 28 leading to bore 27 in alignment with stem passage 20. A hollow outlet spout 29 is integrally formed in the wall of shell 25. Bore 27 is preferably sufficiently deep that heater assembly 11 is wholly supported on stem 14 but in such spaced relation to the container that downward pressure on heater assembly 11 will displace stem 14 to open valve 13.

Within shell 25 a smaller metal casing or shell 31 is suitably rigidly mounted on base 26, and a space 32 is provided between the shells 25 and 31.

Space 32 contains a heating coil 33 of electrical resistance wire and otherwise is filled with a mass 34 of heat and electrical insulation material such as asbestos fiber. Coil 33 is fixedly mounted in surrounding relation to shell 31 by suitable means that prevent short circuiting but which insure that the adjacent wall of shell is uniformly heated when the coil is energized.

A passage defining thin-walled metal tube 35 has one end fixed in aperture 28 so as to provide an effective continuation of stem passage 20 and its other end projects through a suitable aperture 36 in shell 31 to extend into the open inner end of spout 29.

The opposed ends of tube 35 are sealed fluidtight to shell 31 where they pass through the shell walls, and a suitable heat absorbing and storing medium 37 is enclosed within shell 31 in contact with the heated wall of shell 31 and surrounding the wall of tube 35. This medium is preferably hermetically sealed within shell 31.

Coil 33 is energized by having its opposite terminals 38 and 39 connected by wires 41 and 42 to a plug 43 having prongs 44 and 45 insertable in the usual terminal openings 46 and 47 of a conventional electrical wall outlet 48. It will be observed that wires 41 and 42 extend through only a very short length of insulated flexible cord 49 between the heater assembly 11 and the plug, and usually this length is in the order of 1 to 3 inches.

The provision of such a short cord length 49 insures that, after plug 43 has been attached to outlet 48 and the energized coil 33 has adequately heated the medium within shell 31, the plug 43 must be removed from the electrically live outlet to enable the user to conveniently operate the assembly to obtain warm shave cream at spout 29 while he is shaving. When the heater unit 11 is depressed, this depresses valve stem 14 to discharge shaving cream through the valve stem and then through the heating passage provided by tube 35.

The heat storage medium at 37 may be any suitable heat absorbing and retaining material, such as water, alcohol, powdered metal or the like.

It is necessary that the heat be stored for only a few minutes so that warm shaving cream is available during a single shave. The thin wall of tube 35 provides speedy transfer of heat to the flowing shaving cream. The insulation at 32 prevents heat loss by confining the heat output of coil 33 to shell 31 and also protects the user against burning his hand. Thus essentially the entire heat output of coil 33 is used and this raises the temperature of medium 37 and tube 35 appreciably very quickly.

The short cord 49 is not only a safety feature that insures that all electrical contact is broken at the time the shaving cream is being dispensed during actual shaving, but it also provides a less expensive assembly in that no electrical switch is needed to disconnect the electrical source during use as a safety measure.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment wherein the prongs 44 and 45 are fixed directly in the insulated wall of shell 25 and wires 41 and 42 are directly connected to the inner ends of the prongs.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for heating fluent material such as shaving cream during dispensing from an aerosol or like portable pressurized container having a projecting depressible hollow valve stem through which said material is discharged when the stem is depressed comprising a casing of heat and electrical insulation material having an apertured base in its lower end, said base being provided with a downwardly open bore adapted to fit upon said stem so as to support said device substantially wholly on said stem but permitting such relative movement between the device and container as may be required to depress the stem, means defining a flow passage through said device extending from said apertured base to a lateral outlet, said passage having a highly heat conductive wall, means defining a confined body of heat storage material sealed within said casing in surrounding relation to said passage wall and entirely enclosed by said insulation material, electrical resistance heating means within said casing surrounding said body, and conductor means connected to said resistance means and extending externally of the casing to provide a fitting adapted for detachable connection to an electrical outlet.

2. The device defined in claim 1, wherein said conductor means is so relatively short externally of the device that after the passage has been heated the conductor means must be detached from the outlet for convenient use of the assembled container and device in producing warmed shaving cream during shaving.

3. The device defined in claim 2, wherein said conductor means comprises a short flexible cord extending from said device and terminating in a pronged plug.

4. The device defined in claim 2, wherein said conductor means comprises fixed prongs extending from said insulating casing.

5. The device defined in claim 1, wherein said body of heat storage material is a liquid enclosed in a metal casing within said insulating casing, and said passage comprises a thin-walled metal tube extending a material distance through said liquid between said base and lateral outlet.

6. A device for heating and dispensing fluent material as defined in claim 5, wherein said electrical resistance means is imbedded in the insulation material adjacent said metal casing, and the outer wall of said insulation material is a plastic shell, said base being rigid with said shell.

7. A device for heating and dispensing fluent material as defined in claim 5, wherein said electrical resistance heating means is a coil adjacently surrounding said metal casing and distributed therealong for substantially uniform heating thereof.