Base end dispensing container with top end valve operator

A base end dispensing container, especially suitable for dispensing viscous flowable liquid consumable products is disclosed. The container includes an elongated, squeezable container having an inner chamber for holding the viscous flowable liquid consumable products, a base end dispensing valve, a top end valve operating mechanism and an attached support structure for supporting the container in an upright position a distance from a surface upon which the container is placed. The base end dispensing valve includes a sloping container floor terminating at a substantially flat section, upon which a rotationally operable valve gate rests. The substantially flat floor section of the container includes at least one dispensing opening intermediate the interior chamber of the container and the outside of the container. The valve gate is selectively operated between an open and shut position by the top end valve operating mechanism via a valve drive shaft which connects the valve operating mechanism with the rotationally operable valve gate.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to containers and, in particular, to a base end 
dispensing container for selectively dispensing viscous liquid materials, 
such as mustard, ketchup and the like. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Dispensing containers are know for holding viscous liquid condiments, such 
as ketchup, mustard, honey and other viscous liquids. Such containers 
typically have a base for supporting the container and some type of 
opening or valve at the opposite end of the base for dispensing the liquid 
material from an inner cavity of the container. Either the valve is closed 
or a cap is installed on the container during period when the container is 
not being used. 
In most containers, the viscous liquid materials contained therein tend to 
gravitate toward the base, which is at the opposite end of the opening of 
the container. With such containers, when the container is completely 
filled, material in the container may be easily dispensed through the 
opening at the top end of the container. However, when the container 
approaches being empty, it is difficult to dispense viscous liquid 
materials which are seated at the base of the contained opposite the 
container's opening. Thus, the user must vigorously shake or hit the 
container to empty all of its contents. And, in practice, since it is 
difficult to remove all of the container's contents, some of the contents 
remain in the container when it is either disposed of or recycled. 
A number of inventions have sought to solve the problem of removing 
substantially all of the viscous liquid contents from a container. In 
particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,687, which issued to Fitten et al. on Aug. 
12, 1997, discloses a base end dispensing container with a travel cap. The 
Fitten invention is specifically directed to a container that is useful 
for flowable materials, such as bath products, shampoos, conditioners and 
liquid soaps. However, since this patent does not concern human consumable 
liquids, it does not consider the problems associated with contamination 
of the container's contents through the base end dispensing valve. In 
addition, the Fitten invention utilizes a removable cap, which must be 
affixed on top of the base end dispensing valve to positively seal the 
container to avoid the inadvertent dispensing of its contents. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,123,606, which issued to Latocha on Jul. 12, 1938, also 
discloses a base end dispensing device. This device includes an operating 
valve, which is located at the top of container, opposite a base end 
dispensing valve. However, this valve uses a rather complex 
spring-operated mechanism and vertical movement in order to dispense an 
amount of the container's contents. Thus, the Latocha invention is rather 
expensive to produce. In addition, the Latocha container is made of a 
non-deformable material such as glass or the like. Furthermore, the 
Latocha device is especially configured to hold and dispense granular 
solid materials, such as sugar and is not especially suitable for the 
dispensing of viscous liquids. 
Accordingly, what is needed is a base end dispensing container, suitable 
for dispensing viscous liquid consumable products, such as ketchup, 
mustard, honey and the like, that elevates the dispensing valve from the 
area of the base end upon which the container rests to prevent 
contamination of the contents of the container and which includes a 
rotationally operable valve, which is operated from the top end of the 
container, remote from the base end dispensing valve, and which positively 
seals the dispensing valve without dispensing any more of the container's 
contents than is precisely desired. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention satisfies these needs by providing a base end 
dispensing container, especially suitable for dispensing viscous flowable 
liquid consumable products that includes an elongated, squeezable 
container having an inner chamber for holding the viscous flowable liquid 
consumable products, a base end dispensing valve, a top end valve 
operating mechanism and an attached support structure for supporting the 
container in an upright position a distance from a surface upon which the 
container is placed. The base end dispensing valve includes a sloping 
container floor terminating at a substantially flat floor section, upon 
which a rotationally operable valve gate rests. The valve gate is 
selectively operated between an open and shut position by the top end 
valve operating mechanism via a valve drive shaft which connects the valve 
operating mechanism with the rotationally operable valve gate. The 
substantially flat floor section of the container includes at least one 
dispensing opening communicating between the interior chamber of the 
container and the outside of the container. The dispensing opening is 
selectively opened and shut when the valve gate is rotated between its 
open and shut position. 
In a preferred embodiment, the valve gate is shaped in a manner such that 
it has a top end distal from the container floor which is smaller in area 
than a bottom end, which is proximal the container floor. In this manner, 
the viscous flowable liquid contained within the container is easily 
directed to the base end dispensing opening under the force of gravity at 
all times while base end dispensing container is in an upright position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Turning now to the figures, and in particular FIGS. 1 through 4B, a base 
end dispensing container 10 is shown. The container includes an elongated, 
squeezable container 12 having an inner chamber 14, which is especially 
suitable for holding viscous flowable liquids of the consumable nature, 
such as ketchup, mustard, honey and the like, although the principles of 
invention are equally applicable to containers for other, non-consumable 
liquid materials. The squeezable container 12 has a lower base end 16 and 
an upper top end 18. 
The base end 16 comprises a base end dispensing valve 17, which includes a 
sloping floor 20. In the embodiment shown, sloping floor 20 terminates in 
a substantially flat floor area 22 upon which a base end valve gate 30 
sits. 
The base end 16 of the container also includes at least one dispensing 
opening 24, which extends from flat floor area 22 to the exterior of the 
container, thereby exposing the interior chamber 14 of the container to 
the surrounding environment when the base end dispensing valve gate 30 is 
in an open position. The base end 16 further includes an attached support 
structure 26, which, in the embodiment shown, includes circumferential 
legs extending beneath the base end dispensing valve 17 upon which the 
base end dispensing container 10 rests. These circumferential legs 26 
thereby elevate the base end dispensing valve 17 and dispensing openings 
24 a distance away from a surface upon which the container 10 is placed. 
This eliminates problems associated with the contamination of consumable 
materials contained within container 10 by migration of contaminants 
through dispensing openings 24. 
FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A and 5B show how the base end dispensing valve operates. In 
FIG. 4A, the base end dispensing valve 17 is shown in the shut position. 
As can be seen, in the shut position, valve gate 30 is positioned in a 
manner such that the valve gate covers dispensing openings 24. This 
prevents the flowable viscous materials contained within the interior 
chamber 14 of the container 10 from flowing through the dispensing 
openings 24 and out of the container. In FIG. 4B, the base end dispensing 
valve gate 30 is shown in an open position, which in the embodiment shown 
comprises rotating valve gate 30 substantially 90.degree.. In this manner, 
missing sections of the valve gate, which have been removed at section 
edges 38 expose dispensing openings 24 to the interior chamber 14 and 
allow viscous liquids contained within the interior chamber 14 of 
container 10 to flow out of the container through dispensing openings 24. 
FIG. 5A shows one embodiment of a base end dispensing valve gate 30 
according to the present invention. This valve gate comprises a 
hemispherical valve gate 30 having vertical slices removing sections on 
opposite sides therefrom to produce substantially vertical section edges 
38. Of course, any number of sections can be utilized to correspond with 
the number of dispensing openings included in the base end dispensing 
valve 17. Additionally, other non-vertical sections, such as sloping 
section may work equally well. FIG. 5B shows an alternative embodiment 
wherein the base end dispensing valve gate 30 comprises a conical valve 
gate. In a manner similar to the hemispherical valve gate of FIG. 5A, the 
conical valve gate of FIG. 5B also includes at least section removed 
therefrom to produce a substantially vertical section 38, which also 
exposes the interior chamber 14 of the base end dispensing container to 
base end dispensing openings 24 (FIG. 4B). While these two embodiments of 
valve gate 30 are shown, alternative valve gate configurations are 
envisioned by the invention. However, one important consideration, which 
facilitates the flow of material under the force of gravity toward the 
base end dispensing openings 24, is that the valve gate 30 has an area, 
which increases in size from a smaller area top end 36, which is an end 
distal from the base area flat floor section 22 towards a bottom end 40, 
which is proximal to the substantially flat base area flat floor section 
22. 
Of course, other arrangements, such as dual cones having their bases 
attached and a conically shaped dispensing end floor with alternative 
dispensing openings, are contemplated as well. 
Extending from the base end dispensing valve gate 30 at its top end 36 is 
valve operating drive shaft 32, which communicates between the valve gate 
30 and a valve operator 34, located at the top end 18 of dispensing 
container 10. The valve operating drive shaft 32 may be integral with the 
valve operator 34 or it may be a separate drive shaft, which is installed 
between the valve operator 34 and the valve gate 30. In this case, the 
valve operating drive shaft must be rotationally fixed where it 
communicates with both the valve operator 34 and the valve gate 30. This 
can be accomplished using chemical bonding techniques, thermal bonding 
techniques or, mechanical techniques such as the cross-shaped valve drive 
shaft receptacle 39 in valve operator 34 communicating with a like shaped 
top end of drive shaft 32, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6. 
Extending from the valve gate 30 at its bottom end 40, which proximal the 
dispensing container flat floor section 22, is an anti-drift pin 42 (FIGS. 
4A and 4B), which extends into receptacle 46 in the substantially flat 
portion 22 of the base end 16 of container 10. This anti-drift pin 
arrangement prevents valve gate 30 from moving in a horizontal fashion and 
maintains proper valve alignment. 
Opposite valve gate anti-drift pin 42 at the top end of valve drive shaft 
32 is valve operator 34. In one embodiment of the invention, valve 
operator 34 takes the form of the top of container 10 (FIG. 4A). The 
combined valve operator/top 34 engages the container in a snap-fit manner, 
by including a circumferential recess 50, which engages a circumferential 
ridge 52 at the top end of container 10. In the preferred embodiment, this 
snap fit engagement is substantially liquid tight yet is not completely 
airtight to prevent drawing a vacuum within the interior chamber 14 of 
container 10 as its contents are dispensed through dispensing openings 24. 
Also included at the top of container 10, preferably integral with the top 
of the container is a valve operator rotational position limiter 54. 
Position limiter 54 includes a partially circumferential recess 56 in 
valve operator 34 (FIG. 6). Within recess 56, valve position limiter 
protrusion 58 (FIG. 4A), which is preferably integrally molded into the 
top of the container 10, travels, where it butts against first and second 
ends 60 and 62 of recess 56. Thus, the valve operator 34 can have positive 
open and shut positions. This would eliminate the need for a user to align 
valve gate 30 into open and shut positions with respect to valve 
dispensing openings 24 using visual alignment techniques. Accordingly, the 
disclosed valve arrangement is suitable for both transparent and opaque 
containers. 
Valve dispensing openings 24 may take any number of configurations. FIG. 7 
shows one such configuration, which includes two valve dispensing openings 
orientated at opposite sides of the substantially flat floor section 22 of 
dispensing container base 16. Valve dispensing openings 24 are configured 
in an angled arrangement such that they meet at a lower end of the 
container floor 20A (FIG. 4A) to form a single dispensing opening 24A 
(FIG. 4A). Of course, any valve gate/valve dispensing opening arrangement 
may be utilized, including any number of valve dispensing openings and 
complex valve gate geometries. 
In addition to a variety of valve gate and dispensing opening geometries, 
container 10 itself may take a number of geometries. For example, FIG. 8 
shows a dispensing container 10 manufactured according to the principles 
of the present invention, which has a base area 16, which is larger than 
top section 18. This type of arrangement would promote enhanced containers 
stability when it is rested upon legs 26. Of course, container 10 may be 
manufactured in any shape to correspond to common and well known shapes of 
certain consumable products. Container 10 may also be manufactured out of 
a variety of suitable, squeezable materials, such as transparent or opaque 
plastics. The container 10 may also be made of a combination of 
transparent, translucent or opaque plastics. For example, the walls of 
container 10 surrounding interior chamber 14 may be manufactured of 
substantially transparent high density polyethylene (HDPE) while base 
section 16 is manufactured out of a colored, opaque HDPE material. The 
multiple container materials may be joined using chemical or thermal 
bonding techniques, which are well known in the art of container 
manufacture. 
Modifications and substitutions by one of ordinary skill in the art are 
considered to be within the scope of the present invention which is not to 
be limited except by the claims which follow.