Apparatus for heating and dispensing liquid shampoo

Abstract

Apparatus for heating and dispensing liquid shampoo in which a relatively large container of shampoo is heated and maintained automatically at the desired temperature and in which a hand operated nozzle and pump assembly is connected by a flexible hose to the interior of the container. By reason of the heating of the shampoo, its viscosity is sufficiently reduced to permit it being readily pumped by the hand pump.

Parent Case Text

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 98,418, filed Dec. 15, 1970, now abandoned.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It has been recognized that it is more desirable to apply liquid shampoo while in heated form. It not only is more comfortable for the patron but it tends to penetrate the hair better and to loosen the accumulation of dust and oil.

Often, the shampoo has been applied directly from a bottle to the hair in connection with the shampooing operation. The disadvantage of that is that the bottle of shampoo may often be spilled and it is awkward to apply the shampoo preparation in this manner. Accordingly, various arrangements have been proposed for applying the shampoo from a supply in a more convenient manner. One of these, for example, involves a pump associated with a lavatory bowl and connected to a supply of shampoo at some other point such as underneath the lavatory bowl, so that the shampoo may be deposited into the hand of the operator without the handling of a bottle. This arrangement is very difficult to clean and does not lend itself readily to the heating of the shampoo.

To overcome these difficulties, it has been proposed to provide a large container of cold shampoo which has associated therewith either a motor operated pump or a motor operated compressor to forcefully convey the cold shampoo to a dispenser. This dispenser is then normally located in a container which is heated. While this arrangement does provide for heating the shampoo and provides a rather convenient method of dispensing it, it has the drawback that because the shampoo being pumped is cool and hence, relatively viscous, it is necessary to employ a motor operated pump or compressor. Furthermore, the supply of shampoo that is heated is relatively limited in quantity and if it is necessary to apply more shampoo, the additional shampoo will be cold. If the shampoo in the container is sufficiently diluted as not to require a motor operated pump, then the heated shampoo tends to be too dilute to be as effective as might be desired. This is particularly true due to the fact that the nozzle must be located at a relatively remote point from the container and it is difficult to pump cold shampoo of the required concentration through the long hose by a manually operated pump.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is concerned with an arrangement for dispensing liquid shampoo in which there is a relatively large container having a capacity many times that necessary for a single shampoo, a heating device including a thermostat for maintaining the shampoo in the container at a desired operating temperature at which the shampoo is sufficiently fluid to permit it being pumped by a hand pump, and in which there is a flexible tube extending into the container secured in a liquid-tight relationship with respect thereto and a nozzle and hand pump assembly secured to the outer end of the flexible tube for dispensing the shampoo in the container through the nozzle.

The heating device for the container comprises a cylindrical hollow portion having a cross-sectional area of such shape and size as to permit insertion therein of the lower portion of the container, the heating device and the thermostat for controlling the operation of the heating unit being disposed beneath the hollow portion and being entirely enclosed so as to eliminate any danger of the operator being burned by contact with the heating unit. The container in which the liquid shampoo is disposed is of a material having a relatively high heat conductivity to aid in transferring the heat from the heating device to the shampoo in the container. The nozzle of the dispenser is removable making it possible to use nozzles of different sizes. While the upper end of the container has a relatively small opening for the insertion of a flexible closure surrounding the flexible tube of this opening is located in a removable cover which can readily be removed to facilitate refilling of the container.

Various other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from a consideration of the accompanying specification, claims and drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of my shampoo dispensing apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a view on a larger scale of the unit embodying the heater and the storage container, with portions broken away to show details of construction; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the electrical relationship between the thermostat and the heater.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, the shampoo dispenser basically comprises a container 10 having a removable cover 11, the container 10 being disposed in a base 12 having a heater therein, and a nozzle and hand pump assembly 14 connected through a flexible hose 13 to the container 10. The nozzle and hand pump assembly 14 is of relatively conventional construction. It comprises a handle portion 15 and a pump comprising an actuating handle 16 which operates in a conventional manner upon handle 16 being depressed to operate a plunger (not shown) to pump the fluid through assembly 14 and out through a nozzle 17. The nozzle 17 is screw threadedly secured to the main body of the pump and is detachable therefrom to permit the application of nozzles of varying sizes. This permits streams of different quantities to be dispensed from the nozzle 17. The hose 13 extends through a flexible coupling member 20 which, as will be described later, is secured in fluid-tight relationship to an opening 21 in the central upper part of the cover 11 of the container 10. As best shown in FIG. 2, the hose 13 extends downwardly to near the bottom of the container 10 and terminates in a screen member 23 which covers the end of the hose 13 but permits the entry of liquid shampoo into the tube by preventing the entrance into the tube of any lumps of undissolved matter.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the container 10 is cylindrical in character and has a bottom wall 24. The container 10 is preferably formed of metal of relatively high heat conductivity to facilitate transferring the heat of the heater to the shampoo within the container. Firmly secured at the top of the container is the cover member 11 which has a cylindrical flange 25 to firmly engage in a fluid-tight manner the upper end of the container 10. The opening 21 has a diameter relatively small as compared with the diameter of the container 10 and is surrounded by a curved lip 19 to facilitate insertion and removal of the closure 20. The closure 20 is preferably of a well known type employing a plurality of annular ribs 22 of progressively increasing diameter extending from the bottom to the top. The closure 20 is made of relatively flexible material to yieldably engage the edge of the opening 21. Because of the flexibility of closure member 20 and the fact that the ribs 22 progressively increase in diameter from the bottom to the top, the closure member 20 can be firmly secured in the opening 21 despite manufacturing variations in the size of the opening 21 and despite any wear that may take place in the closure member 20.

Within the upper portion 26 of the base 12 is a plate member 27 having an upturned angular flange 28, which flange 28 has the same external diameter as the internal diameter of the base 12. The plate 27 is secured in place by fastening the flange 28 to the base 12 in any suitable manner as by welding or by rivets 29. The upper end of the base 12 is turned inwardly to provide a horizontal flange 30 and to define an opening 31 having a diameter of approximately the same size as that of the external diameter of container 10. The area above plate 27 and below the flange 30 thus forms a hollow portion in which the lower end of container 10 extends and to which the container 10 is securely held by reason of the engagement of the inner edge of flange 30 with the container.

Disposed beneath the plate 27 in spaced relationship thereto is an electric heater 32 which may take various conventional forms. The heater may, for example, be an electrical resistance heater disposed in a ceramic block. Also disposed in the base 12 beneath the heater 32 is a thermostat 33. The heater and thermostat may be supported in any desired manner in the base portion 12 and in any desired relationship with respect to each other.

The electrical relationship of the thermostat and the heater 32 are shown schematically in FIG. 3. It will be noted that the thermostat, as is conventional, comprises a bimetallic switch blade 34 and an adjustable switch blade 35 with an adjusting screw 36 extending below the thermostat to move the position of the adjustable switch blade 35 and hence the control point of the thermostat. The bimetallic element 34 is so disposed that upon the temperature dropping, the contact carried thereby is moved downwardly to engage the contact carried by the adjustable blade 35. The temperature at which this occurs depends upon the setting of the adjusting screw which is preferably calibrated to indicate the temperature which is to be maintained by the thermostat. The heater 32 is connected in series with the thermostat 33 and conductors 39 and 40 forming part of a suitable electric cord 41. A manual on-and-off switch 42 is also connected in series with the heater. This manual switch is disposed at some accessible portion such as the side of the base 12. When the switch 43 is open, the heater 30 is deenergized regardless of the thermostat 33. The electrical cord 41 is preferably of the three-wire type employing a ground conductor 44 leading to a ground terminal 45 of a cord plug 46. This ground terminal 45 is connected into the ground terminal of the receptacle into which the plug 46 is connected.

The base member 12 is preferably provided with any suitable base portion 50. This may take various forms, such as three separate feet, as well as the form shown in FIG. 2.

OPERATION

In operation, the operator fills the shampoo container 10. The container 10 is of a size to hold from two quarts to a gallon of the shampoo. The shampoo before being introduced into the container is diluted to the desired concentration. Normally, with most shampoos, this concentration is such that if the shampoo is cold, the mixture would not readily be pumped by the hand pump through the nozzle 17 without an undue tendency to clog the moving parts. The switch 42 is then turned on. The thermostat has been preset for the desired temperature and the setting is normally not altered. The operation described so far is performed well before any shampoos are to be given so that by the time that shampoos are to be given, the temperature of the shampoo in the container 10 will be at the desired value.

All that the operator need do in using the equipment is to grasp the nozzle assembly and squirt the desired amount of shampoo onto the patron's head by actuation of the handle 16. Because of the shampoo already being heated, the shampoo will flow freely through the hose 13 and the nozzle assembly and will effectively penetrate the hair. At the same time, because the shampoo is at approximately body temperature, the patron does not notice a change in temperature such as would take place if cold shampoo were applied. After the application of the shampoo, the shampooing operation is completed in the normal manner.

While I have shown a specific embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that this is for the purposes of illustration only and that the scope of the invention is to be limited solely by the appended claims.

Claims

I claim as my invention:

1. Apparatus for manually dispensing liquid shampoo, comprising:

a container for liquid shampoo having a capacity many times that necessary for a single shampoo and having a relatively large main portion and terminating at its upper end in a central portion which is relatively small as compared with the minimum transverse dimension of said main portion and which has a central opening therethrough,

a base for said container comprising a base portion designed to rest upon a fixed surface, a chamber secured to said base portion substantially above the portion of said base portion designed to rest upon a fixed surface, a cylindrical hollow portion above said chamber with an upper opening of the same size and shape as the lower portion of said container to enable insertion therein and removal therefrom of the lower portion of said container, said cylindrical hollow portion above said chamber extending upwardly only a very small portion of the height of said container to facilitate the insertion into and the removal from said hollow portion of said container, and a heating unit disposed in said chamber beneath said support in heat transfer relationship with said hollow portion, and a thermostat for controlling the operation of said heating unit,

a flexible tube extending into said container through said opening in the upper end thereof, the diameter of said tube being substantially less than that of said opening, and means securing said tube in said opening in liquid-tight relationship with respect thereto including a flexible closure member through which said tube extends, said closure member having opening engaging portions of progressively increasing outside diameter proceeding from the bottom to the top so that the closure will fit containers having various size openings therein by inserting the closure and tube into the opening until the opening engaging portion adjacent the edge of the opening is of a diameter substantially conforming with the diameter of the opening,

and a nozzle and hand pump assembly secured to the outer end of said flexible tube, said hand pump being capable of readily dispensing shampoo in said container through said nozzle by reason of the decreased viscosity thereof as a result of the heating thereof, said assembly being free of fluid connections other than to said flexible tube so that said hand pump constitutes the sole means for delivering shampoo from said container through said nozzle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the hand pump has a detachable nozzle, thus making it possible to use nozzles of different sizes.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said container has a removable cover in which said opening is disposed.