Spray dispensing container and valve therefor

A spray dispenser of the squeeze bottle type, for use in the administration of nasal sprays, comprises a squeeze bottle in combination with a spray dispenser head assembly consisting of a cap, and associated spray nozzle which functions as a two-way check valve and a dip tube for conveying liquid from the bottle to the spray nozzle. The head may optionally be fitted with an overcap for protecting the spray head from contamination when not in use.

BACKGROUND 
This invention relates to the field of spray dispensers of the squeeze 
bottle type. More particularly, it relates to an improved spray dispenser 
of the squeeze bottle type for use in dispensing nasal sprays, which is of 
simple construction and which provides means for preventing return of air 
throug the dispensing orifice. 
Spray dispensers of the squeeze bottle type are widely used to administer 
to the nasal passages liquids containing an anti-cholinergic or 
decongestant for the relief of sinus congestion or acute or allergic 
rhinitis caused by conditions such as hay fever, allergies or the common 
cold. Such spray dispeners should be so designed as to meet certain use 
criteria, but these criteria are not entirely met by dispensers now in 
current commercial use. 
Thus the dose regimen for each dispenser must be carefully controlled, 
because if a vasoconstrictor, normally present in nasal decongestant 
sprays, is over-administered, the resulting excessive vasoconstriction 
leads to rebound vasodilation of the blood vessels when the effect of the 
vasoconstrictor wears off. This in turn can produce an intensified 
congestion, called "rebound congestion", which can tend to perpetuate the 
rhinitis condition. This problem can be addressed, of course, by 
controlling the volume of the dosing mechanism, so as to thereby control 
the per dose medication, and by controlling the total volume of the 
dispensing container, within the limits allowed by the operating mechanism 
of the dispenser, so as to control the total available medication. A total 
dosing regimen for a single dispenser should ideally be sufficient for 
about seven days, the typical duration of the common cold. 
Dispensers of this type should also be provided with a return air passage 
different from, and relatively remote from, the spray passage so as to 
prevent, or at least to minimize, inspiration of air through the exit 
passage during the recovery portion of a use cycle which would otherwise 
cause contamination of the dispenser contents. 
In order to provide effective coverage of the mucous membranes, the 
dispenser should also be so designed that air and the liquid medication in 
the dispenser are well-mixed in the dispensing head in order that the 
material be dispensed as a fine spray rather than as a liquid steam or 
large droplets. 
Finally, because of the shape of the nasal fossae, i.e. the cavities on 
either side of the midline of the face and lying directly behind the nares 
or nasal openings, the spray pattern delivered by the dispenser should 
advantageously be relatively oval, or elliptically, shaped, rather than 
circular as in conventional spray dispensers, in order to better insure 
reaching all surfaces of the fossae, which are generally triangular in 
cross sectional shape, tapering from about 15 mm. wide at the bottom to 
about 1 mm. wide at the top. 
As will be seen, the dispensers provided by the present invention overcome 
these problems and meet the basic criteria for nasal spray dispensers, as 
described above, by use of a relatively simple dispensing head section, 
which consists of only three basic parts, in combination with a 
conventional squeeze bottle. 
THE PRIOR ART 
Efforts to overcome some of the problems discussed above in squeeze-type 
spray dispensers, especially those adapted for use as nasal spray 
dispensers, are described in the prior art, and particularly in the patent 
literature. 
Thus U.S. Pat. No. 3,176,883 describes a squeeze-bottle type dispenser 
having a valve arrangement to prevent inspiration of air through the 
dispensing opening. The dispenser requires a valve 28 at the bottom of dip 
tube 17. Pressure on the bottle drives fluid up tube 17 to an exit port 
15. Simultaneously air is forced through opening 53, through air discharge 
openings 26, through valves 25 and thence through grooves 20 to exit port 
15. When pressure is released, valve 36 opens, while valves 25 and 30 
close, and air passes from ports 44 and 35 back into the system. The 
sprayer disclosed thus would deliver a generally circular spray pattern 
and furthermore is relatively complicated and would be expensive to 
manufacture. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,519,208 describes a squeeze-type spray dispenser provided 
with means to prevent inspiration of air through the exit opening in 
which, upon squeezing the container, fluid is driven upward through dip 
tube 68 and out of orifice 72, while air is simultaneously forced through 
openings 66 in valve plate 30 and thence through passage 78 where it mixes 
with fluid exiting from the dip tube. On compression of the bottle, valve 
plate 30 is forced upward to thereby seal off air inlet openings 62, but 
when pressure on the bottle is released, the valve plate 30 drops away 
from openings 62 allowing the inward passage of air. The dispenser is 
designed primarily for uses other than as nasal spray dispensers, and as 
described would not be suitable for such use. In any event the dispensing 
mechanism requires complicated shapes which would be molded from plastic 
and would thus be expensive to manufacture. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,903 involves a concept generally similar to that 
described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,519,208 discussed above, except that the 
inlet openings are located on the surface of the dispenser head rather 
than at the base of an annular space as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,519,208. Like 
the dispenser described in the latter, the dispenser disclosed in U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,648,903 is not adapted for nasal spray use. 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,794,247 and 4,093,124 involve concepts quite similar to 
that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,519,208 discussed above. That is, air 
inlet openings to provide return of air to the interior of the dispenser 
after squeezing the same are provided at the base of an annular space 
surrounding the dispensing head. Like the dispenser of U.S. Pat. No. 
3,519,208, the dispensers of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,794,247 and 4,093,124 would 
require relatively complicated parts and are not adaptable to nasal spray 
dispensers. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,476 discloses an atomizer having provision for return 
of air to the dispensing container. However the air relief and exit paths 
are essentially lateral with the dispensing orifice, and thus the 
dispenser cannot be adapted for use as a nasal sprayer. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The nasal spray dispensers of the present invention overcome the various 
disadvantages of the prior art dispensers discussed above, and furthermore 
the dispensers of this invention accomplish these results in a relatively 
simple manner. 
More specifically the spray dispensers of the present invention are 
composed of only four separate parts in combination, namely a squeeze 
bottle; a closure cap therefor; a dip tube within the container; and a one 
piece combination dispensing nozzle which serves a threefold function as 
(1) a spray dispensing nozzle, (2) a check valve against inspiration of 
air through the nozzle and (3) a valve to permit inspiration of air into 
the container at a point removed from the exit nozzle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the 
foregoing drawings wherein like numerals are used to identify like parts. 
FIG. 1 shows a conventional squeeze bottle used in the practice of the 
invention, generally indicated by reference numeral 10, which may 
optionally be fitted with an overcap 11 when not in use. The bottle is 
made of flexible material conventionally used in dispensers of the squeeze 
bottle type, which are inert to the contents of the bottle, including 
polyethylene, polypropylene, vinyl, flexible compositions of polystyrene, 
plasticized polyvinyl chloride or nylon. 
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, removal of the overcap exposes the dispensing 
head of the spray unit, which comprises a closure cap 12 to which is 
fitted a combination spray nozzle/two-way check valve unit 13. 
The relationship between the various parts of the dispensing unit (less the 
bottle 10) is best seen with reference to FIG. 3. As there indicated, the 
dispensing head unit comprises several parts in combination, namely the 
overcap 11 previously described which is removably attached, for example 
by frictional engagement, to the closure cap 12. The latter, which is 
removably attached to the neck of bottle 10 by, for example, frictional 
engagement or by a screw threaded attachment 19 (see FIGS. 4A and 4B), is 
equipped with a series of air inlet or relief holes 18, whose purpose will 
be shortly described, and a central hole 17 for receiving a flexible spray 
nozzle unit 13, the latter being equipped with a retention shoulder 14 and 
a flexible flange 15. As will be seen, the integral construction of the 
spray nozzle unit 13 with the flexible flange 15 allows the unit to 
function as a two-way check valve. Finally the dispensing unit is equipped 
with a dip tube 16 which serves to conduct fluid from within the bottle 10 
to the spray nozzle 13. 
The assembled spray unit is shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B where it will be seen 
that the spray nozzle/two-way check valve 13 is fitted to the closure cap 
12 by inserting the neck of the spray nozzle through the central hole 17 
of the cap. The nozzle unit is held in position in the cap by retention 
shoulder 14, which bears against the outer surface of the top wall of the 
cap, and by an annular rim 20 around the inside of the closure cap, which 
serves to capture and hold the flexible flange 15 within an annular cavity 
21 defined by the rim 20, the inner face of the top wall of the cap and 
the upper portion of the side skirt of the cap. The dip tube 16 is fitted 
with a flanged head portion 22 which is inserted into the lower opening to 
the spray nozzle 13 and is maintained in such position by frictional 
engagement. A separate flanged collar member 23 is inserted between the 
flanged head portion 22 and the spray nozzle 13 to aid in or maintain the 
frictional engagement between the head portion 22 and the spray nozzle 13. 
The flanged collar member 23 also serves to support the dip tube 16 within 
the head portion 22. 
As shown in FIG. 2A, the dip tube 16 extends to the bottom of squeeze 
bottle 10 which thus permits conveying the entire contents of the bottle 
to the dispensing head section, the contents of the bottle being forced 
upward to the spray nozzle by the inward flexing of the side walls of the 
bottle as indicated by the dotted lines (a) in FIG. 2B. 
The operation of the dispensing unit will now be described with reference 
to FIGS. 4A and 4B. Referring first to FIG. 4A, when the bottle with the 
attached spray dispensing assembly is squeezed, air flow within the 
bottle, indicated by the arrows, forces the flexible flange 15 of the 
spray nozzle 13 upward from its normal position against the inside face of 
the top wall of the cap 12 where it closes off air inlet holes 18. With 
the air inlet holes thus sealed, continued inward pressure on the sides of 
the bottle forces liquid from the bottle upward through the dip tube and 
into the spray nozzle 13 from which it is ejected. 
The spray nozzle is made of a highly resilient material, such as natural or 
synthetic elastomers or rubbers, for example vinyl or butyl rubbers, 
including brominated or chlorinated butyl rubbers. As seen in FIGS. 2A and 
2B, the nozzle tip has a chisel like shape, and the exit nozzle comprises 
a transverse slit across the end of the tip between the opposing lips 
thereof. Thus in operation, as the liquid admixed with air is forcefully 
ejected from the nozzle tip, or a so-called duck bill valve, the latter, 
because of the resilience thereof, is caused to rapidly vibrate, in the 
fashion of a flutter valve, from an open to a closed position as shown by 
the dotted lines (b) in FIG. 4A. The air and liquid contents are forced up 
via dip tube 16 and through the orifice in the head of flanged head 
portion 22, and the latter causes the liquid to be broken up into fine 
droplets or a spray, the pattern of which will tend to conform to the 
shape of the open nozzle, i.e. generally elliptical. 
As shown in FIG. 4B, when inward pressure on the side of the bottle is 
relaxed, the spray nozzle tip will close, thus preventing inspiration of 
air through the nozzle, but the flexible flange 15 of the spray nozzle, a 
so-called umbrella valve, will return to its normal position, thus opening 
air inlet holes 18 and permitting air, indicated by the arrows, to return 
to the bottle thereby completing a squeeze and recovery cycle. The 
dispenser is then ready for a dispensing portion of another cycle. 
It will be understood that, although preferred embodiments have been 
described above in order to better illustrate the invention, alternative 
materials, forms and the like can be substituted for such aspects 
specifically described herein without either departing from the spirit of 
the invention or in any way adversely affecting the operability of the 
same. 
For example, it will be appreciated that, although the spray dispensers of 
the present invention have been described with particular reference to 
nasal dispensers for use in dispensing the liquid contents as a spray, the 
dispensers can also be used for dispensing droplets by use of more gentle 
inward pressure on the bottle. When used as droplet dispensers, the 
dispensers of this invention would be inverted to fill the dip tube, and 
by application of gentle pressure, the contents dispensed drop by drop. 
Ideally only a "unit dose" held in the tube would be dispensed at a time, 
although continuous dropwise dispensing can be achieved by application of 
sufficient pressure to force liquid into the tube from the bottle. Use of 
the dispensers as droplet dispensers is thus also contemplated. 
Having thus described the invention and the advantages thereof, it is 
considered that the invention is to be broadly construed and limited only 
by the character of the following claims.