Pouring Stop

Abstract

A pouring stop for bottles and other liquid containers. The stop comprises a spout, having a pouring lip, and cooperating with a collecting space around the spout. The spout is provided with a pouring tongue attached to the inner side of the spout, extending initially outwardly parallel to the spout axis and subsequently being curved in the same direction as and spaced from the pouring lip. The lip acts to draw the last drop back into the bottle.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a pouring stop for bottles and similar liquid containers, comprising a plug body to be inserted in the opening of the container, the plug body being provided with an at least gutter-shaped spout with a pouring lip.

It is known that in general a pouring lip does not ensure with certainty that no drops will fall down after a pouring operation has been terminated. Liquids having a medium or high viscosity value moreover have the drawback of possessing a rather long pouring range; the flow cannot be interrupted easily. This means that the last drops of the liquid always drip along the outer face of the spout. It has already been attempted to overcome this trouble by incorporating the spout in a pouring stop with a collecting space, whereby the oil dripping along the outside of the spout is returned to the container. This is, however, only a partial solution, because these oily liquids owing to their creeping effect can always reach the outside of the bottle from the said collecting space, while moreover in practice at the moment immediately before the jet is definitely interrupted the last part of the jet always lands just on the outside of the bottle. Apart from the unhygienic aspect of this condition, the phenomenon occurs that many oily products, like those particularly destined for domestic use, owing to the contact with the atmosphere start developing fatty acids which occasion a pungent smell.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to obviate the afore mentioned difficulties. The pouring stop according to the invention is characterized in that the spout at the location of the lip is provided with a tongue which is applied to the inner face of the spout extending from there initially outwardly and parallel to the axis and subsequently having a curved shape in the same direction as the spout lip. With a pouring stop constructed in this manner, it is achieved that, when one ceases pouring, the liquid flow is broken by the tongue, the last drop always staying to hang on the tongue and consequently flowing back into the bottle when bringing the bottle again into the upright position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will hereinafter be clarified with reference to the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of the pouring stop according to the invention as contemplated in the direction I in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pouring stop;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view according to the arrows III--III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an axial sectional view through the upper part of a bottle which is provided with a pouring stop according to the invention and with a closure cap, to a reduced scale as compared with the preceding figures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The pouring stop comprises a substantially cylindrical body which at its lower end at 2 has a conically reduced diameter and at its upper end a flanged edge 3. This pouring stop is inserted in the opening of the bottle or similar liquid container.

As is best seen in FIG. 3 a collecting space 4 is formed in the body of the pouring stop by providing a bottom 5. In this bottom is provided the gutter-shaped spout 6. The bottom 5 consists of two portions which in the upright position of the pouring stop slope slightly downwardly. Consequently the lowest point of the bottom is on the line denoted by 7 in FIGS. 2 and 3, and this line extends through the opening which together with the spout 6 is provided in the bottom 5. The gutter-shaped spout is provided with a lip 9 along which the liquid is poured out, in the position as represented in FIG. 3. So far the pouring stop is in conformity with the prior art construction.

In this known pouring stop the tongue 10 is provided according to the invention. This tongue is at 11 for a rather great length affixed against the inner wall 6' of the spout which in a known manner slightly widens with a view to the provision of the closure cap. The side of the tongue which is directed toward the axis of the spout extends parallel to the axis on the entire fastening area. At the location of the lip 9 of the spout the tongue 10 continues over a short distance outwardly to subsequently merge into a portion having a curved shape in the same direction as the lip 9. The end 12 of the tongue 10 may end at a slightly greater distance from the axis than the lip 9. Preferably the end 12 of the tongue extends in a direction which is at right angles with the axis of the spout and of the pouring stop, respectively.

The effect of a tongue 10 constructed in this manner is as follows. On pouring out the viscous liquid from the spout in an approximately horizontal position of the bottle and the stop respectively, as drawn in FIG. 3, the jet flows in a known way over the lip 9 of the spout. The entire tongue is then somewhere within the outflowing jet of liquid. At the moment that the bottle is again being brought into the upright position the outflowing jet will naturally become thinner, and this thinning jet is then guided by the tongue 10. At the moment at which the jet definitively breaks, this rupture will occur just before the end 12 of the tongue 10 and as a consequence the critical "last drop" (of which one may say that it does not know whether to fall down or to stay behind at the spout) stays hanging at the end of the tongue. When thereupon the bottle is completely brought into the upright position this small quantity of liquid hanging on the tongue cannot but flow back along the tongue to land in this way entirely on the inner side 6' of the spout 6 and consequently again within the bottle. This last amount of liquid cannot possibly pass over the lip 9 of the spout.

With a tongue 10 according to the invention liquids with a very wide range of viscosity values can be poured out. It is possible, though, to make two or three embodiments of the pouring stop having different size of the tongue 10. For a range of extremely high viscosity values a larger tongue may then be applied. Larger in this case means that the end 12 of the tongue comes to lie as well in an axial direction at a slightly greater distance from the lip 9 of the spout as at a slightly greater distance in a radial direction with respect to the axis of the pouring stop. For a medium range of viscosity values the size as represented in the drawing should be observed; in this respect it should be noted that FIGS. 1 to 3 are on a scale 2:1 and FIG. 4 is on a scale 1:1. For a range of very low viscosity values, consequently for liquids of which in practice it is not said that they are oily, pouring without dripping is obtained by means of a tongue which is slightly smaller than according to the size as represented.

Obviously the most simple way of manufacturing the pouring stop with tongue according to the invention is the one in which the whole product is made from plastic by injection moulding as it is also the case for the pouring stops so far known which are not provided with the tongue according to the invention.

In order to give a complete picture, FIG. 4 represents the upper portion 13 of the bottle in which a pouring stop 1 according to the invention is inserted in the neck 14, which in a known way, is threaded externally so that a cap 15 can be screwed thereon. Likewise in a known way this cap is on its inner side provided with a cylindrical part 16, which fits into the spout and closes the opening 8 (FIG. 2) in the spout. Evidently the pouring stop with tongue according to the invention can be applied with any kind of liquid containers, glass bottles, plastic bottles, oil cans, etc.

Claims

What I claim is:

1. A pouring stop for bottles comprising, in combination:

a plug body having a base portion adapted to be inserted in the opening of a container and having a spout portion projecting axially outwardly thereof, said spout portion presenting an inner wall surface defining a channel through which a stream of liquid may flow and terminating in a pouring lip curving away from the axis of the body and over which the stream of liquid issues in contact therewith; and

a narrow, blade-like tongue having an inner portion extending axially of said channel and defining an upraised rib along said inner wall surface of the spout portion and having an outer portion projecting outwardly beyond said pouring lip and curving away from the axis of the body to terminate in a tip disposed in axially spaced relation to said lip so as to be located within the stream of liquid issuing over the lip.

2. A pouring stop according to claim 1, wherein the tongue ends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis.

3. A pouring stop according to claim 1, in which the spout on at least a part of its length slightly widens outwardly, wherein the tongue is applied along the wall of the widening part of the spout, the tongue itself on its side turned toward the axis extending parallel to this axis.

4. A pouring stop as defined in claim 1 wherein said plug body includes an intermediate wall portion defining a concave outer face and having a central opening from which said spout projects, said spout being of U-shaped cross section to allow liquid to drain toward and to said central opening when the plug body is upright.