Closure and dispensing device for containers

A two-piece, plastic, screw-on, closure and dispenser has an outer tubular female part with upper and lower internal screw threads and a separate, inner tubular male part with a single external screw thread rotatably attachable to the upper thread of the female part the lower thread of which is screwed onto the external screw thread of an outlet on top of a container, the male part is double-walled, an elongated pouring spout is an integral axial extension of an inner wall and a knurled hand knob is at the top of an outer wall and is turnable in either direction within the stationary female part for axial extension or retraction of the spout. An integral, internal, annular frustro-conical flange extends around the internal wall surface of the female part between threads and forms a valve seat around a fluid-flow opening. A disc-like valve member with a frustro-conical, peripheral, valve-sealing surface is spaced by webs below the male part creating in conjunction with the valve seat, a baffled port for interrupting two way flow of air entering and liquid exiting a container via the device to smooth out liquid dispensing by reducing the size and increasing the rapidity of " glugging". Combination movement stops and sealing surfaces on external ledges are provided between male and female parts.

This invention relates generally to container closure devices and relates 
more particularly to a plastic screw-on closure device for dispensing 
liquids from containers. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In the past, difficulty has been experienced when pouring liquids by hand 
from containers, especially when the containers are fairly large and full 
and when dealing with flammable, highly viscous and other liquids which 
are difficult to handle. The efflux of liquid from the container can be 
too sudden or irregular due to a flow interruption phenomenon known as 
"glugging" caused by large air bubbles entering the container at slow 
speeds with resultant surges in flow rate. This leads to spillage on 
persons, clothing or equipment. 
Metallic closure caps have largely been replaced by plastic caps and 
particularly those of so-called "yieldable" plastics material because of 
greater durability and ease of manufacture by injection moulding 
techniques. Resilient, two-piece, screw on, captive caps of plastic 
material for fitment to containers for dispensing liquids thereform 
through a closable opening are known wherein the cap is rotated in a 
clockwise direction to close the discharge opening and in an 
anti-clockwise direction to open the discharge opening. Many captive, 
screw-on caps are of the snap-fit variety and are not removable from the 
container by a consumer without damage. Effective sealing of the surfaces 
of closure caps either with containers or insert members is a problem. 
Some rotatable, screw-valve, captive plastic caps rely on deformation and 
distortion of the wall of an outer sleeve or tubular member by the user 
during placement of a captive cap upon the container. The sleeve usually 
has an internal annular flange on the bottom edge which engages with an 
external annular flange or lip on the container neck. Examples of this 
type of closure are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,977,537 of Warmuth, U.S. 
Pat. No. 2,051,513 of Bingham and U.S. Pat. No. 2,969,896 of Lerner. In 
all of these patents, the whole cap is rotated and use is made of the rim 
of the container neck as a sealing surface. Other caps, such as those in 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,630 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,351,249 of Stull, rely on 
radial distortion of an upper edge of a wall of a resilient tubular sleeve 
member to free an annular sealing surface bead of a closure cap from an 
internal annular groove in the wall each time that the cap is screwed open 
or closed for axial movement. This type of closure can be assembled during 
manufacture by axial snap-fitting movement over-riding the threads instead 
of a rotary movement. In another closure type described in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,033,428 of Van Baarn, distortion and deformation of resilient sealing 
members is used during closure movement to prevent sticking of sealing 
members due to residual amounts of material dispensed from a container 
with liquid to which the closure has been fitted. In another U.S. Pat. No. 
3,276,640 of Kessler, distortion for fitment is achieved by having a 
central, resilent plug, (integral with an axially slidable cap and 
plunger) of double taper and with a blind bore in the bottom, the plug 
being forced past an internal flange on an unthreaded tubular, sleeved 
pouring spout. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,105 of Santore, a screw-on cap moves 
axially and uses direct sealing against the upper rim or edge of a squeeze 
container dispenser and dispensing relies partly on the container 
structure and material rather than the closure. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to provide a smoother flow-control, 
screw-on closure and liquid-dispensing device for containers. 
Another object is to provide a leak-proof closure and liquid-dispensing 
device for containers. 
Another object is to provide an improved, two-piece, plastic closure and 
liquid dispensing device which has an internal thread for fitment to 
containers which have an external screw thread and which can be 
dismantled, removed from the container and wiped clean for transfer and 
use on another container with different liquid contents. 
In accordance with these objects and the principles of this invention, 
there is provided a screw-threaded, plastic closure and liquid dispensing 
device for fitment to containers with an external screw threaded outlet. 
The device comprises: a female outer tubular member and a male inner 
tubular member, the female member having two axially spaced internal, 
molded-in threads, one thread being a lower or inner thread, the other 
being an upper or outer thread. The lower thread is attachable to a 
container by screwing onto a threaded container outlet. The male member 
has a single external thread and is rotatably attachable to the female 
member by screwing the male external thread into the outer or upper 
internal female thread. 
An internal annular valve seat is carried within the female member and an 
annular valve liquid-sealing surface is carried by the male member which 
is hand-rotated in one angular direction to extend it to open the valve 
and is rotated in the opposite direction to retract it and close the 
valve. A large bore, air-ingress and liquid-egress port is provided 
between the members when the valve is in the open position with the male 
inner member in an axially extended position with respect to the female 
outer member. There is a combination valve aperture and baffle structure 
incorporated within the valve assembly, and the configuration, spacing and 
positioning of the valve baffle and aperture in relation to the valve seat 
and valve seating surfaces are designed to create non-linear flow and 
improved mixing of incoming air and discharge of liquid to provide a 
smoother two-way flow of fluids through the valve, resulting in reduction 
of the low frequency, high-amplitude discharge flow interruption 
phenomenon known as "glugging", by reducing the amplitude and increasing 
the frequency of flow of the disturbance. 
The male member has a double wall, an inner wall extends out beyond an 
outer wall to form a pouring spout, the top of the outer wall has a 
knurled hand knob on it and any liquid pouring or dripping down the 
outside of the top of the spout runs into the gap between the walls and is 
prevented from coming into contact with hands or fingers of a user. Also 
for this purpose the rim of the spout is formed into a bevelled flow 
cut-off edge. The projecting spout can be wiped clean after use. Further 
advantageous features comprise combination fluid seals and movement stops 
between co-operating external edge surfaces on ledges formed on peripheral 
intermediate stepped portions between the assembled members. These edges 
and surfaces are formed as an integral part of the closure. 
The novel arrangement of features which are considered to characterize the 
invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. 
Other features, uses and advantages of the invention will become apparent 
from a reading of the following description of the embodiment thereof 
presented in the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT 
Reference is now made to the drawings in which FIGS. 1 and 2 show for 
clarity the two separate, screw-threaded male and female plastic 
components of the two-piece dispenser and closure for containers with an 
external screw thread and prior to assembly. Referring to FIG. 1, there is 
shown a single-walled, female first member 10 of tubular configuration 
into which a male second member 11 is adapted to be releasably socketed. 
The male second member 11 is also tubular in configuration but is 
double-walled. Both members are preferably made by injection molding from 
a yieldable synthetic polymeric material or materials such as polyethylene 
or polypropylene. The components can both be made of the same material or 
from different polymeric materials or from different grades of the same 
polymeric material to provide improved sealing, better-wearing and 
rotational properties. 
The female tubular member 10 has a single wall 12, the lower portion (or 
inner portion with respect to a container) of which is provided with a 
lower internal thread 13 for screwing the member 10 onto an external 
thread of a neck of container for liquids (not shown). The upper portion 
of the wall 12 (or outer portion with respect to dispensing outlet of the 
device) of the female outer tubular member 10 is also provided with an 
internal thread 14. The male inner member 11 has a radially outer wall 15 
and a mainly cylindrical radially inner wall 16. The outer wall 15 is 
provided with an external, moulded-in thread 17 corresponding to the upper 
or outer internal thread 14 of the female member and into which the male 
member is adapted to be rotated clockwise during assembly and rotated in 
either direction for axial extension or retraction, respectively, of the 
male member with respect to the female member after the female member has 
been screwed onto the threaded neck of a container. 
The assembled combination closure and dispenser device is shown in FIGS. 3 
and 4 and is in the valve-closed position in FIG. 3 and valve-open 
position in FIG. 4. Integrally molded combination motion stops and liquid 
seals are provided by co-operating annular engaging surfaces formed on 
both male and female members, specifically on the underside edge 12b of 
the knurled hand knob 19, the top of the wall 12 of the female member 10, 
the bottom edge 15a of the outer wall 15 of the male member 11 and an 
annular ledge 12a on the inner surface of the female member 10 to seal off 
screw threads of the members 10, 11 and to prevent damage to valve seat 
and valve-sealing surfaces (as hereinafter described) when the members are 
screwed tight into a valve-closed position. 
The male member 11 has a portion of the inner wall thereof formed into an 
integral pouring spout 18 which has a sharp chamferred edge 18a formed 
thereon to cut off liquid flow when a container with the device attached 
is tilted into an upright position after pouring and dispensing is 
finished. The male member 11 has a knurled, hand-operable, valve-turning 
knob 19 integrally molded around the top of the outer wall 15, the knob 
providing a supporting shoulder upon which the device may be tilted when 
screw-connected to the threaded neck around the opening of a container. If 
desired, the internal surface of the inner wall 16 of the male member 11 
may be provided with a plurality of longitudinal, supplementary air bleed 
or breather slots such as the one shown at 20 which provide supplemental 
air venting into a container to which the device of the invention has been 
attached and during egress of liquids from the container to promote 
smoother liquid flow therefrom and smoother air flow into the container. 
The lower portion of the female member 10 has integrally formed therein a 
valve seat 21 in the form of an internal, downwardly curved, annular 
flange and, projecting from the bottom of the male member 11 there is an 
integrally-formed, disc-like plug which has a valve-sealing surface 22 
formed around the peripheral edge thereof. The valve sealing surface is 
preferably frustro-conical in shape and is complementary in shape to the 
surface of the valve seat 21 of the female member. 
The male and female members are assembled by screwing the male member into 
the upper or outer portion of female member 12 to form a valve assembly 
incorporating the integrally molded-in valve seat of the female member and 
the molded-in valve-sealing surface of the male member. Both inner and 
outer walls of the male member 11 are joined adjacent the bottom thereof 
and a circular valve disc 23 with the previously-mentioned valve-sealing 
surface 22 depends from and projects below the bottom edge of the inner 
wall and is joined to the inner surface of it by means of four 
longitudinal, radially disposed, tapered webs forming ribs such as the two 
24 and 25 shown in FIG. 2. These webs project axially beyond or below the 
lower edge of male member 11, and a port is formed by the fluid flow gaps 
between the webs and the lower edges of the walls and the edge of the 
circular valve disc 23 for passage of fluid, that is to say two-way flow 
of air ingress and liquid egress. 
The effect which is created by this design is air-liquid mixing or 
deflecting baffles for a more regulated fluid flow therethrough when the 
valve is turned into the open, liquid-dispensing position, with the male 
member axially extended with respect to the female member by rotation of 
the male member in an anti-clockwise direction. The net hydrodynamic 
effect is to break up the large amplitude, low frequency, fluid-flow 
disturbance phenomenon known as "glugging" by promoting a lower amplitude, 
higher frequency of such disturbances into a smoothing out by smoother 
fluid flow. 
There is also integrally formed behind or below the valve seat 21 at the 
base of the female member 10 of the device, a sealing lip 26, a gap 27 
being formed between the lip 26 and the bottom surface underneath the 
valve seat 21 to allow yieldability to permit the seat 21 to maintain a 
correct co-axial sealing contact relationship with the sealing surface 22 
of the valve plug disc integrally formed with the male member 11 for 
correct sealing contact of the valve surfaces irrespective of any molding 
irregularity which may arise during manufacture of the device or which may 
be present in the container outlet. 
An O-ring wiper seal member 28 is preferably provided on the lower 
perimeter of the outer wall of the male inner member 11 of the device 
according to the invention. Around the inside of the bottom edge of the 
female outer member, there is preferably provided a plurality of ramped 
notches or teeth such as the one labelled 29 for engagement with a 
threaded boss of a plastic container or a drum or tin to prevent slippage 
of the female outer member 10 when in place upon a container or the like. 
Variations and modifications of the invention may be made within the scope 
of the claims and parts or portions of the container closure and 
dispensing device may be used without others and it will therefor be 
understood that the embodiment described above is in no way restrictive 
and may give rise to any desirable modification without departing from the 
scope of the invention.