Valve structure for a spraying container

In a spraying container structure, before the sealing and blowing operations there is mounted in the valve body comprising a housing and a cover which is provided with a temporary sleeve, a closure member which is adapted to cooperate with a sealing element to close the valve. The closure member is maintained in the valve open position in the valve body during the production of the container.

The present invention relates to an aerosol bottle, and more particularly 
applies to a valve structure for such containers. 
In the course of this operation, plastics material is presented in the form 
of a blank which is usually engaged around the body of a valve and clamped 
against the latter, the interengagement being ensured by projections 
provided on the outer lateral surface of the body of the valve. When the 
blank is thus rendered integral with the body of the valve, the subsequent 
operations comprise introducing inside the blank various fluids, such as 
air for blowing and forming the body of the container, inert gas for 
cooling and scavenging, a filling product and a propelling product. 
Consequently, the valve must be in its open position for all these 
operations. 
In the prior art, the different aforementioned fluids are supplied via a 
sleeve which is rendered temporarily integral with the body of the valve 
and enter the container in passing through the valve which is devoid of 
its closure member or piston. This closure member or piston is in a 
waiting position inside the temporary sleeve and is introduced into the 
body of the valve only at the end of the filling operations, the closure 
member or piston being for this purpose pushed through the sealing element 
provided inside the body of the valve. There is shown in the valve body, 
which comprises a housing and a cover provided with a temporary sleeve, a 
closure member adapted to cooperate with a sealing element to ensure the 
closure of the valve, and the closure member is maintained in the 
valve-opening position in the valve body during the manufacture of the 
container. 
In filling the spraying container, after the container-filling operations, 
the valve is closed by the release of the closure member and the 
application of the latter against the sealing element. 
An object of the invention is to provide a valve comprising a body 
including a housing and a cover which is provided with a temporary sleeve 
and is mounted on the housing, the housing and the cover defining a 
chamber and each having an axial aperture opening into said chamber, a 
closure member movably mounted in said chamber in opposition to the action 
of elastically yieldable means for applying the closure member against a 
sealing element mounted in said cover, wherein the closure member is 
maintained spaced away from the sealing element by abutment means rendered 
integral with the body of the valve by destructible fixing means.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-3, the invention is applied to a 
container of the aerosol bottle type comprising a body 1 obtained by the 
extrusion and blowing of a blank of plastics material and a valve body 
generally designated by the reference numeral 2. The neck 3 of the 
container is sealed around the valve body 2, the interengagement of the 
two elements being achieved by the effect of grooves 4 and projections 5 
provided on the outer lateral surface of the valve body 2. 
The valve body 2 comprises two parts, namely a housing 6 and a cover 7 
which are assembled by clipping the cover 7 on an annular ramp or ledge 8 
of the housing 6. The end of the housing 6 facing the interior of the 
container is provided with an end portion 9 on which a plunger tube 10 is 
fitted. 
The end portion 9 is provided with a bore 11 having an axis X-X which puts 
the aperture of the plunger tube 10, and therefore the interior of the 
container 1, in communication with an inner chamber 12 of the housing 6. 
The end of the housing 6 facing outwardly of the container has an annular 
shoulder 13 which clamps a sealing element 14 of elastically deformable 
material against the inner surface 15 of the cover 7. 
This cover 7 has an axial bore 16 and is extended outside the body 1 of the 
container by a flange 17 to which a temporary sleeve 18 is fixed by an 
annular region 19 of reduced thickness which constitutes a weak line along 
which the sleeve 18 is cut from the terminated aerosol bottle or 
container. 
Slidably mounted inside the chamber 12 is a piston 20 which defines, 
between its outer lateral surface and the inner surface of the chamber 12, 
a passage 21 which puts the interior of the body 1 of the container in 
communication with the exterior either in one direction, for example for 
blowing and filling the container, or in the opposite direction for the 
purpose of the utilization of the container for dispensing the product 
containing therein. 
The piston 20 is urged elastically toward the sealing element 14 by a coil 
spring 22 which bears against an annular groove 23 formed in the inner 
surface of the piston 20 and against the shoulder 24 formed in the end of 
the chamber 12 adjacent the end portion 9. 
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the piston 20 is maintained in a 
position spaced away from the sealing element 14 so as to permit the 
passage of the various fluids such as the blowing air, the cooling fluid, 
the inert gas for scavenging, the filling fluid, and the propelling gas. 
This is ensured by abutment means, such as a finger portion 25, which is 
connected to the cover 10 by thin radial tabs 26 which are capable of 
being cut at the end of the operations for admitting the various fluids in 
the container. 
The finger member 25 is in the form of a cylinder whose end 27 adjacent the 
interior of the body 1 acts as a support for the piston 20 and ensures 
that it is maintained in the withdrawn position. The finger member 25 
extends through the sealing element 14 in the centre of the latter and is 
provided with longitudinal grooves 28 which allow communication between 
the two regions defined on each side of the sealing element 14, that is to 
say the interior of the valve communicating with the interior of the body 
1 and the exterior of the container. The longitudinal grooves 28 of the 
finger member 25 define therebetween ribs 29 (FIG. 2) which ensure a 
smooth sliding contact with the surface of the centre aperture 30 of the 
sealing element 14. Mounted inside a cylindrical portion 32 of the sleeve 
18 which is adjacent the flange 17 of the cover 7 of the valve body 2, is 
a cutter 31 which is adapted to separate the finger member 31 from the 
cover by cutting the tabs 26 subsequent to the container-filling 
operations. 
The cutter 31 is actuated by any appropriate means, such as a shifting 
device employing a single or double-acting jack (not shown). The front or 
leading part of the cutter 31 has a cutting edge 33 and a shoulder 34 
which is adapted to abut against the outer surface of the cover 7 of the 
valve body 2 so that the cutting edge 33 cannot harm the sealing element 
14. 
The finishing and filling operations for the container shown in FIGS. 1 and 
2 are carried out in the following manner. 
With the container and its temporary sleeve arranged as shown in FIG. 1, 
there are carried out the final stages of manufacture of the body of the 
container and the operations for filling it with active liquid and a 
propelling gas. The cutter 31 is then shifted in translation in the 
direction of arrow f, so that its cutting edge 33 cuts the radial tabs 26 
of the finger member 25. 
As the finger member 25 is released, it is urged outwardly of the valve 
body 2 by the piston 20 which is itself urged into a position of abutment 
against the sealing element 14 by the spring 22. In this way, the valve is 
closed (FIG. 2). The finger member is still maintained on the valve body 2 
through the action of its ribs 29 which bear against the centre aperture 
30 of the sealing element 14. The cutter 31 is then returned to a 
withdrawn position and the sleeve 18 is separated from the valve body 2 by 
cutting by any appropriate means along the weak line 19 provided between 
the flange 17 of the valve body 2 and the sleeve 18. 
The container is thus terminated and conveyed to other stations at which 
the finger member 25 is removed and replaced by a push-button (not shown). 
The container may meanwhile undergo any finishing operations: burr or fin 
removal, marking, decoration, checking etc. 
The arrangement just described has a number of advantages over the prior 
art. Owing to the finger member 25, the piston 20 is already placed in 
position during all the operations for admitting the various fluids so 
that these operations are less delicate to carry out and avoid the risk of 
damaging the sealing element 14. 
When the radial tabs 26 have been cut by the cutter 31, the valve closes 
practically instantaneously. When the radial tabs 26 are cut, the finger 
member is not discharged and remains connected to the valve body 2. This 
enables the finger member to be removed at a suitable point of the 
production line. 
Owing to the shoulder 34 provided on the active end of the cutter 31, the 
travel of the latter is limited to merely that required for cutting the 
radial tabs 36 and there is no danger of harming the sealing element 14. 
FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show a modification of the invention which differs from 
the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-3 in that the finger member 25.sup.a has a 
smaller diameter. It is no longer guided in translation by the surface of 
the aperture 13 of the sealing element 14 and therefore does not rub 
against the latter. In this way, there is no need to provide longitudinal 
grooves, such as 28, and guiding ribs, such as 29, which facilitate the 
passage of the different fluids. 
When the radial tabs 26 are cut and in order to ensure that the finger 
member 25.sup.a is not discharged in the region of the filling station, 
the finger member is maintained connected to the cover 7 of the valve body 
2 by fine and flexible branches 35 which are cut at a point of the 
production line where the discharge of the finger member is desired. The 
length of these branches 35 enable, when the radial tabs 26 are cut by the 
cutter 31, the finger member 25.sup.a to be urged outwardly of the body of 
the container, when the piston 20 moves to the closing position, while 
remaining hooked to the cover 7 of the valve body 2.