Dispenser Bottle With Hanging Strap

Abstract

A bottle which is provided with an adjustable strap for hanging the bottle from a suitable support. A vertically extending groove is formed on one side of the bottle with at least one pair of ears projecting toward one another from opposite sides of the groove. The hanger strap has a generally flat elongated portion which is slidably received in the groove. The projecting ears engage the strap with sufficient friction so that it does not tend to slide freely. The free end of the strap has a hook-like configuration and the end of the bottle adjacent the groove may have a stepped configuration to receive this hook-like portion when the strap is fully retracted.

Description

The present invention relates to a hanger arrangement for a bottle, such as a dispensing bottle, and more particularly to an improved adjustable hanging strap and bottle combination.

Various bottle hanging arrangements have been proposed hereto-fore. These include wire frames which encircle the bottle, clamp type hangers, and hooks which are formed integrally with the bottle. Among the disadvan-tages of these prior bottle hanging arrangements are high costs, complexity of the assembly, and the lack of adjustability.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved hanging means for a bottle.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a bottle hanging arrangement which may be adjusted to vary the vertical distance between the bottle and the attachment point.

A further object of the invention is the provision of bottle hanging means which may be inexpensively produced and which forms an attractive unit so that the bottle and hanger may be packaged and sold as a single disposable unit.

The above and others objects of the invention which will become apparent in the following detailed description are achieved by providing a bottle hanging assembly which consists, essentially, of a molded bottle having a groove extending vertically along one side thereof from the base, at least two ears projecting from opposite sides of the groove, and a hanger strap which has an elongated portion slidably received with the groove and passing beneath the ears, the hanger strap having a hook-like end.

For a more complete understanding of the invention and the objects and advantages thereof reference should be had to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings wherein there is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the bottle and hanger strap assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the bottle and hanger strap assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the strap removed from the bottle;

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken along the line 5--5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the bottom portion of the bottle; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the bottle and hanger assembly in use.

The reference numeral 10 designates generally a bottle which is provided with a hanger strap 12. The bottle 10 is preferably a blow molded plastic bottle and has a recess or groove 14 extending vertically on one of the side walls 16 of the bottle from the bottom 18. As can be seen most clearly from FIGS. 1 and 5, the groove 14 is a broad, shallow groove with parallel side walls. The top or open end of the bottle 20 may be provided with any suitable cap or dispensing nozzle, the particular nozzle depending on the use to which the bottle is placed.

In at least one region on each side of the groove 14 there is provided a lug or ear 22 which projects into the groove 14, the lugs 22 on each side of the groove being aligned with one another. The bottom wall 18 of the bottle may be provided with an enlarged recess 24 at the end of groove 14. As will become apparent below, this recess 24 receives the hook portion of the hanger strap 12 when the strap is in its fully retracted position.

The hanger strap is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. The strap 12 is preferably forward of a plastic material and has an elongated generally flat portion 26 which is of a width only slightly less than that of the slot 14 of the bottle 10. Preferably, a rib 28 extends centrally along substantially the entire length of the flat portion 26. The upper end of the strap 12 is bent or angled as indicated at 30-36 to provide a downwardly opening hook 38 which may be engaged on a suitable support.

As can be seen most clearly from FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, the body portion 26 of the strap 12 is received within the groove 14 of the bottle 10 with the strap passing under the projecting lugs 22. The dimensions of the rib 28 of the strap and the lugs 22 are such that the flat portions 26 of the strap are bent slightly as the strap passes under the lugs. This arrangement provides for a tight sliding fit between the strap and the bottle so that the strap does not move freely. Preferably, the frictional engagement is sufficient so that the strap will remain in any position after it has been moved to such a position by hand and the bottle does not tend to slide along the strap even when completely filled with liquid.

One possible use of the bottle and strap assembly of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 7 where the bottle contains a deoderizing and/or disinfecting solution which is desired to be dispensed into the water in the tank of a flush toilet to deoderize and disinfect the toilet bowl. It will be understood that the opening 20 of the bottle is provided with a suitable dispensing nozzle which may, for example, be the nozzle assembly shown in my co-pending patent application, Ser. No. 202,905, filed Nov. 29, 1971 for "Dispenser". However, any suitable dispensing nozzle may be employed. The hook 38 of the strap 12 is engaged on the tank wall so that the bottle depends into the tank. By sliding the bottle 10 along the strap 12 the bottle position may be adjusted to that at which the proper quantity of fluid is dispensed with the rising and falling of the water in the toilet tank.

The invention contemplates that the bottle and hanger strap assembly may be sold as a disposable unit, the strap being moved to its fully retracted position with the hook 38 received within the enlarged notch 24 of the bottle 10 for packaging and shipment and the strap subsequently pulled partially out of the groove 14. Since both the bottle and the strap may be formed of plastic by suitable molding operations, they may be inexpensively produced.

While only the best known embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail herein it will be understood that the invention is not limited thereto or thereby. Reference should therefore be had to the appended claims in determining the true scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A bottle of the liquid dispensing type and a hanger strap assembly therefor, comprising:

a bottle including side walls and a bottom wall having a broad, shallow groove extending along one side wall thereof from the edge of the side adjacent the bottom wall toward the other end of the bottle;

at least one pair of lugs secured to the bottle on opposite sides of the groove and projecting toward one another to partially overlie the groove; and

a hanger strap having an elongated body portion slidably received in the groove and passing under the lugs in manual frictional sliding relation, but the frictional engagement being sufficient so there is no sliding relationship between the bottle and strap with the full bottle suspended in an inverted position by the strap from the end thereof adjacent the bottom wall of the bottle.

2. The assembly according to claim 1 wherein the end of the strap projecting from the groove adjacent the bottom wall of the bottle has a hook-like configuration.

3. The assembly according to claim 2 wherein the hook-like end of the strap extends from the side of the strap adjacent the bottle and the bottom wall of the bottle adjacent the groove is notched to receive the strap end when the strap is fully inserted in the groove.

4. The assembly according to claim 1 wherein the body portion of the hanger strap has a central rib extending substantially the entire length thereof, the rib being positioned so that the lateral edges of the body portion are spaced from the groove wall.

5. The assembly according to claim 1 wherein the bottle is a blow molded plastic bottle and the lugs are formed integrally with the bottle.