Detachable receptacle and fitted pouches for refillable sprayer devices

This invention relates to a spraying apparatus comprising a detachable refill pouch said pouch designed to contain fluid, and a sprayer device detachably connected to the refill pouch and a receptacle device held therebetween the refill pouch and sprayer. The pouch is held in place by detachably connecting the pouch directly to the sprayer with the receptacle held therebetween. The pouch has a neck portion made of material to provide sufficient integrity to allow for mounting of the neck to a cap on a sprayer.

This invention relates to an apparatus comprising a detachable refill pouch 
said pouch designed to contain fluid, and a sprayer device detachably 
connected to the refill pouch and a receptacle device held therebetween 
the refill pouch and sprayer. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The market has dictated a need for less waste in plastic containers and 
refillable plastic containers have become increasingly necessary to 
prevent waste. 
Refilling conventional sprayer bottles with liquid from refill containers 
requires excessive handling by the consumer and undesirable exposure to 
the liquid by the consumer. Devices to solve this problem have been 
proposed but are lacking in practical application. The device disclosed in 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,685 describes a sprayer undesirably attached to a 
holder for a pouch, thereby requiring a sleeve to hold the pouch in place 
and several undesirable steps for a consumer to attach the pouch to the 
sprayer. 
Accordingly, a receptacle device of the present invention securely holds a 
pouch in place by detachably connecting the pouch directly to the sprayer 
with the receptacle held therebetween; the receptacle enabling the 
consumer to easily assemble the pouch and receptacle and grasp the 
spraying device to comfortably spray the fluid from the pouch. The 
receptacle is held in place between the sprayer and pouch and provides 
integrity to the device for the user to comfortably hold the device. The 
spraying device will typically utilize conventional sprayers currently 
available on the market. 
The plastic typically required for a refillable bottle cannot typically be 
made from 100 percent post consumer recycled plastic. The plastic must be 
made from a percentage of unprocessed plastic in order for the bottle to 
adequately contain the contents. 
Accordingly, the present invention also utilizes a receptacle device which 
is not in direct contact with the contents of the pouch to be dispensed 
and therefore can be made with a light weight plastic and/or up to one 
hundred percent post-consumer recycled plastic. 
Typical pouches that are merely fluid filled bags are typically difficult 
to fill during production because as they index through a filling station 
during production, the product sloshes up along the inside walls of the 
pouches and the interior of the pouch becomes moistened, which prevents a 
leakproof seal from being formed. 
Accordingly, the present invention also comprises a pouch having a neck 
portion made of material to provide sufficient integrity to allow for 
mounting of the neck to a cap on a sprayer. The integrity of the neck 
portion will allow machinery to grab the collar of the neck portion to 
hold the pouch in place for filling during production. Additionally, the 
walls of the pouch will not require a seal once filled thereby eliminating 
the difficult step of sealing a moistened pouch. The pouch of the present 
invention may be sealed by covering the opening of the the upper neck 
portion with a foil or frangible seal or other sealable means. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A spraying apparatus for packaging and dispensing liquid consumer products, 
such as household cleaners, comprising a reusable generally rigid 
receptacle device as a holder for a disposable or refillable detachable 
generally flexible pouch for containing the liquid. The receptacle 
includes an opening intended to remain unclosed in its bottom or side for 
inserting the pouch into the receptacle, and a fitment for removably 
securing the pouch to the top of the receptacle as well as a dispensing 
sprayer sealingly secured to the open orifice of said pouch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The apparatus of the present invention will typically comprise a sprayer 
mechanism to a pouch and a receptacle. The pouch is securely held in place 
by detachably connecting the pouch directly to the sprayer with the 
receptacle held therebetween. The receptacle enables the consumer to 
easily assemble the pouch and receptacle and grasp the spraying device to 
comfortably spray the fluid from the pouch. The spraying apparatus will 
typically utilize conventional sprayers currently available on the market. 
The mounting of the sprayer to the pouch can occur by bayonet fit, snap 
bead or other interference fitments conventionally known in the dispensing 
means art. Typically the sprayer and pouch will be threadably mounted; 
that is, the pouch may comprise a neck portion which may have threads on 
the upper neck portion and a collar on the lower neck portion and the 
sprayer may comprise a threaded screw cap wherein the threads on the upper 
neck portion of the pouch may screwably connect with the complementary 
threads on the screw cap of the sprayer which may form the detachable 
connection between the sprayer and the pouch. 
The receptacle comprises a pouch neck orifice through which the neck of the 
pouch is received and a flange just below the orifice to mountably 
communicate with the collar of the neck portion of the pouch to prevent 
the pouch from passing through the pouch neck orifice in the receptacle 
and to stabilize the pouch when the pouch is connected to the screw cap of 
the sprayer. 
The pouch can be prepared from a variety of plastic materials available 
such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester terephthalate and nylon for 
example and can have a variety of pliable or flexible film-like character 
or rigid or stiff physical forms based on the relative combinations of 
polymers chosen. If the pouch will fit within the receptacle device and 
sealably contain the contents of the pouch, the physical form for function 
of the pouch is not critical. The pouch will, however, be made with the 
least amount of material necessary to contain the liquid contents. The 
pouch is meant to utilize between 60 and 70 percent less (or less) plastic 
than a plastic bottle of a size meant to hold the same volume of liquid. 
The standard plastic sprayer bottle is meant to provide structural 
integrity to the bottle as well as hold the liquid contents. However, the 
receptacle device of the present invention serves the purpose of providing 
the structural integrity of a heavier sprayer bottle without needing to 
contain the liquid contents, while the pouch serves the purpose of 
providing the containment of the liquid without needing to provide 
structural support. Therefore, the pouch will require a lesser amount of 
resin than a conventional sprayer bottle. 
The neck of the pouch, however, is to be made of resin which will provide 
sufficient integrity to allow for threadable mounting of the neck to a 
screw cap on a sprayer. The integrity of the neck portion will also allow 
machinery to grab the collar of the neck portion to hold the pouch in 
place for filling during production. The pouch may be sealed after filling 
by covering the opening of the upper neck portion with a foil seal or 
other sealable means. 
The receptacle device can be thermoformed, blow-molded or injection-molded 
and can be made with a light weight plastic and/or up to one hundred 
percent post-consumer recycled plastic. The controlling factor for 
choosing plastic and amounts of plastic necessary to make the receptacle 
is the physical form requirements of the receptacle. The receptacle needs 
sufficient integrity to enable a consumer to grip the receptacle and 
utilize the sprayer. 
The receptacle may also have a pummel or other sprayer stabilizer which 
fits into the rear portion of the sprayer to retain the sprayer in place 
and prevent the sprayer from swiveling around the top of the receptacle 
device when a user is attempting to use the sprayer apparatus. 
The following are illustrative embodiments of the invention but are not 
meant to be limiting in scope. More particularly, the preferred 
embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in the drawings. 
In FIG. 1 an empty receptacle device or holder 1 is shown having a closed 
front wall 12, a closed rear wall 14, an open bottom defined by peripheral 
margins 16, open side walls 18 and a neck 20 having a neck orifice 5 in 
FIG. 2 adjacent the necks upper extremity 22, whereby the bottom wall 12 
forms an uncloseable opening to allow for insertion of a refill pouch and 
both sides of the device are open to allow for viewing graphics on the 
refill pouch. At the top of the receptacle device is a spraying stabilizer 
device or pummel to hold a sprayer in place after the sprayer is connected 
to the refill pouch as illustrated in FIG. 5 later described. 
In FIG. 2 refill pouch 3 having a main body portion 24 with a narrow 
integral neck portion 4 of the pouch 3 is inserted into the receptacle 
device with the neck portion 4 fitting through the neck orifice 5 of the 
receptacle device. 
FIG. 3 illustrates pouch 3 fitted within the receptacle device 1. A foil 
seal 6 is sealed over the top of neck 4 the refill pouch which can either 
be pierced by a dip tube 28 of a trigger sprayer 7 as illustrated in FIG. 
4 or removed by the consumer by peeling or tearing. 
FIG. 4 shows the insertion of the tube 8 of sprayer 7 into the pouch 
through the seal 6 of the pouch 3 and a sprayer cap 8 threadably 
communicating with the pouch neck threads 9 mounting the pouch to the 
sprayer in a conventional manner. 
In FIG. 5 there is shown a spraying apparatus 30 assembled with the sprayer 
cap 8 mounting the neck 4 threads 9 of pouch 3 to the sprayer 7 and 
thereby securing pouch 3 to receptacle 1 for use. 
FIG. 6 demonstrates modified receptacle device 32 having a closed bottom 
wall 34, a short front wall 36 extending from said bottom wall so that 
said front wall is essentially open, with essentially open side walls 38, 
a neck area 40 ending in a partially opened (can be closed) neck 42 with 
pummel 44. Pouch 3 is merely slipped through the opening above front wall 
3 and set on bottom wall 34 with the pouches neck portion inserted through 
neck orifice 42 and secured thereto in a manner like that in the 
embodiment of FIG. 5, whereby an uncloseable opening to receive the pouch 
is on the side of the receptacle device. Again the receptacle device in 
this embodiment has a sprayer stabilizer pummel and an opening in side 
walls for graphics display as well as an opening for the pouch. 
FIG. 7 illustrates a sprayer cap 8 with a collar 10 on the upper neck 
portion 4 of the pouch 3 and a flange 11 (here shown as a crimped edge for 
rigidity) at the neck orifice 20 of the receptacle device 1 to mountably 
communicate with the collar 10 of the neck portion 4 of the pouch to 
prevent the pouch 3 from passing through the pouch neck orifice 20 in the 
receptacle device and to stabilize the pouch when the pouch is threadably 
connected by way of thread to the screw cap 8 of the sprayer (sprayer not 
shown to simplify but can be like sprayer 7 shown earlier). Upper segment 
46 forming an orifice in pouch 3 so that the interior 48 of neck 4 is in 
open communication with the interior of pouch 3. The outermost diameter of 
collar 10 formed by edge 50 is greater than the inner diameter of the 
receptacle orifice 20 defined by the inner orifice 52 of flange 11 so that 
movement of neck 4 beyond the lower surface of flange 11 is prevented. The 
outer diameter of cap 8 is also greater than the inner diameter of flange 
11 such that the lower surface 54 of the cap engages the upper surface or 
shoulder 56 of flange 11 when screwed down on threads 9 of neck 4. Thus, 
by fully engaging the cap 8 segment 50 of neck 4 protruding beyond orifice 
20 the flange 11 is trapped between collar 10 and cap 8 to removably 
secure the pouch 3 to receptacle device 1. 
It is evident to one skilled in the art that various modifications of the 
present invention to provide a disposable or refillable pouch for 
containing liquids for consumer household care products and the like 
carried in a reusable holder for dispensing by spraying or otherwise can 
be provided in accordance with principles and concepts of the invention 
described hereinabove.