LIQUID DISPENSER

Abstract: A liquid dispenser (1) for dispensing metered aliquots of a liquid is provided, which dispenser (1) comprises a chamber (2) having an inlet bore (7) for liquid and an outlet bore (8) for liquid, a valve (3) in the chamber (2) for controlling dispense of liquid from the dispenser (1), and valve operating means (4), said valve (3) having first and second valve stems (9,10) for reception respectively within said inlet bore (7) and within said outlet bore (8), said first valve stem (9) being provided with sealing means (16) for sealing said inlet bore (7), and first, second and third resilient sealing means (22,23,24) being provided for sealing said outlet bore, the arrangement being such that during movement of the valve (3) from a position in which it entirely seals the outlet bore (8) to a position in which liquid within the chamber (2) is free to flow through the outlet bore, (7) the inlet bore is sealed before a said flow of liquid can occur.

Description: This invention relates to a liquid dispenser and, more particularly, to a liquid dispenser for dispensing metered quantities of a liquid from an inverted bottle containing a said liquid. Such liquid dispensers are well known and a popular range of such dispensers is available under the British Registered Trade Mark 'OPTIC' (No.470,373). Although there have been many proposals to improve liquid dispensers, there is still scope for further improvement, e.g. to meet proposed British and European legislation, in particular with regard to effective sealing of the dispenser to ensure that 'run through' cannot occur ('run through' being a continuous flow of liquid through the dispenser as opposed to the dispense of a single aliquot of liquid). A known type of liquid dispenser is illustrated in United Kingdom Patent Numbers 1577908, 1577909 and 1577910 (corresponding to French Patent Number 2406811). This dispenser has two seal elements on a valve stem either side of the outlet however these seal elements do not act in a transient relationship with a third seal to ensure there is no egress of liquid prior to the inlet being sealed. Thus, there is the possiblity of 'run-through'. According to the present invention there is provided a liquid dispenser for dispensing metered aliquots of a liquid, which dispenser comprises a chamber having an inlet bore for liquid and an outlet bore for liquid, a valve in the chamber for controlling dispense of liquid from the dispenser, and valve operating means, the valve having first and second valve stems for reception respectively within said inlet bore and within said outlet bore, characterised in that said first valve stem is provided with sealing means for sealing said inlet bore, and said second valve stem being provided with first, second and third resilient sealing means for sealing said outlet bore, the arrangement being such that during movement of the valve from a position in which said first resilient sealing means seals the chamber and said second and said third sealing means seal about the outlet bore to a position in which liquid within the chamber is free to flow through the outlet bore, said third resilient sealing means also being arranged to confine the liquid to the outlet bore and the inlet bore is sealed before a said flow of liquid can occur. Preferably the said valve is resiliently biassed into said position in which it entirely seals the outlet bore. Preferably said valve operating means is secured to, or is integral with, said valve and includes an internal bore communicating with said outlet bore of said chamber via a transverse bore in said valve for dispense of a said liquid. Preferably said sealing means on said first valve stem comprise primary resilient sealing means for sealing said inlet bore and with auxiliary resilient sealing means for sealing said inlet bore. Preferably, said first and second resilient sealing means are arranged to seal the outlet bore upstream of said transverse bore in said valve, said third resilient sealing means preventing outflow of liquid through the outlet bore other than through said transverse bore. Generally the liquid dispenser of the present invention will include an air inlet valve for permitting air to enter the chamber as liquid flows from the chamber. Preferably, said air inlet valve is actuated by a radially extending flange provided on said valve. Preferably said chamber is made from any suitable transparent material, such as polystyrene. Further components of the liquid dispenser of the present invention are preferably made from plastics mouldings, e.g. said valve may be made from acetal resin. An embodiment of a liquid dispenser will now be described, by way of example only, by reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 shows a front elevation in partial section of an embodiment of a liquid dispenser according to the present invention; Fig. 2 shows a detail of the embodiment of liquid dispenser of Fig. 1. Figure. 3 shows a further detail of the embodiment of liquid dispenser of Fig. 1. Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, a liquid dispenser 1 comprises a chamber 2 for holding liquid, a valve 3 within the chamber for selectively admitting liquid into and releasing liquid from said chamber, and valve operating means 4. The dispenser 1 is provided with a liquid inlet 5 adapted to be received within the neck of an inverted bottle (not shown) and sealed therewithin by means of an annular cork (Fig. 1). The liquid inlet 5, which is longitudinally divided by a partition 6 to facilitate the admission of air into the bottle and to help prevent the formation in the bottle of a partial vacuum, is in communication with an inlet bore 7 of chamber 2. The chamber 2 also includes an outlet bore 8. Valve 3 is provided at its upper and lower ends with valve stems 9, 10 respectively cooperating with inlet bore 7 and with outlet bore 8 of the chamber 2. Valve operating means 4 includes a pair of laterally extending members 11, 12 to which axial pressure can be applied, by direct manual pressure or via a glass held beneath the dispenser 1 and an axially extending outflow passage 13. Adjacent the inner end 14, of valve operating means 4 there is provided a transverse bore 15 communicating with outflow passage 13 and located so as to communicate also with outlet bore 8 of chamber 2. Said inner end 14 of valve operating means is secured to the valve stem 10 of valve 3 so that valve 3 moves unitarily with valve operating means 4. The valve stem 9 of valve 3 is provided with primary sealing means in the form an elastomeric silicone polymer O-ring 16 adapted to seal the inlet bore 7 of chamber 2 to prevent ingress of liquid into chamber 2, when valve stem 9 is moved into inlet bore 7. Valve stem 9 is also provided with auxiliary sealing means in the form of a radially extending flange 17 having a radially extending planar sealing surface 18, for sealing with a flat 19 provided on the ceiling or upper surface 19 a of chamber 2. An air inlet valve 20 is provided in said surface 19 a , biassed to a closed state, at a position such that it can be opened by said radially extending flange 17 to admit air into chamber 2 to replace liquid passing from chamber 2 through bore 15 and outflow passage 13 of valve operating means 4. Valve stem 10 is provided with a groove 21 in which is seated an elastomeric silicone polymer O-ring 22 for sealing outlet bore 8 of chamber 2. The inner end 14 of valve operating means is provided with a pair of spaced elastomeric silicone polymer O-rings 23, 24 located one on each side of transverse bore 15 of valve operating means 4 to seal with outlet bore 8 of chamber 2. The assembly of valve 3 and valve operating means 4 is biassed into a position in which outlet 8 of chamber 2 is closed, by means of a coil spring 25. In use, in a rest position, inlet bore 7 of chamber 2 is open and liquid can flow into chamber 2 and outlet bore 8 is closed. Upon axial movement of valve operating means 4, valve 3 moves within chamber 2 and primary O-ring seal 16 seals inlet bore 7. Continued axial movement of valve 3 in the same direction thereafter causes O-ring seal 23 to leave outlet bore 8, thus allowing liquid within chamber 2 to flow through bores 15 and 13 of valve operating means 4. Auxiliary sealing of inlet bore 7 is provided by sealing surface 18 sealing with annulus 19 of chamber 2 and liquid is prevented from leaving chamber 2 other than via bore 15 by means of O-ring 24. Flange 17 acts upon air inlet valve 20 to allow ingress of air into chamber 2. It is to be noted that there are various pieces of written and unwritten legislation which apply to spirit measures (for whisky, gin, rum and vodka) for use in licensed premises in the United Kingdom. Amongst these is a requirement that substantially the whole of the internal volume of the chamber for containing liquid to be dispensed should be visible from outside the measure. Another requirement is that no air should remain within the chamber when the measure is charged with liquid. In the past, air has been conducted out of the chamber by providing an upwardly frustoconical ceiling or upper surface in the chamber. However, in order for this to be effective, the upper surface should be formed at an angle to the horizontal of, e.g., 20°. Such an angled surface is likely to cause a part of the volume of the chamber to be visually obscured, thus failing to comply with the first requirement mentioned above. It has now been found that it is possible to solve the problem of air remaining within the chamber, in a satisfactory fashion, by arranging that the flow of liquid into the chamber be suitably slow. A generally applicable solution to this problem is proposed in our copending patent application of even date. An inlet for admitting liquid into a chamber of a liquid measure and for permitting egress of air from within a said chamber is provided with two generally semi-circular or D-section conduits, said conduits being of substantially the same area and a said area being selected such that liquid flowing through a said conduit into a said chamber does not cause the formation of air bubbles in any liquid already within the chamber. A suitable cross-sectional area for a said generally D-shaped conduit is 15± 1.5mm². Referring to Figs 2 and 3 of the accompaning drawings, details of an embodiment of such an inlet are shown, said inlet comprising a circular cross-section tube of inside diameter 7mm, divided in half axially by a central partition of width 1.2mm. Such an inlet has been found to be extremely effective in producing an air space-free liquid-filled volume within a said chamber of a liquid dispenser. The liquid dispenser of the present invention provides a reliable, accurate and convenient means of dispensing metered aliquots of liquid. Run through of liquid is substantially prevented, whilst the dispenser is able to cope satisfactorily with pressure exerted upon the valve operating means off its central axis of movement. The liquid chamber may be entirely transparent to allow for inspection of substantially the whole of the chamber contents. Additionally, a coil spring used to bias the valve into a rest position within the chamber can be kept out of contact with the liquid within the chamber, due to the presence of said third sealing means. Moreover, the inlet may be arranged to provide for the effective expulsion of air from within the chamber in a simple and satisfactory manner. The invention may be performed otherwise than as has been particulary described and the invention includes within its scope all such changes and modifications as would be apparent to one skilled in the art.

Claims: A liquid dispenser (1) for dispensing metered aliquots of a liquid, which dispenser (1) comprises a chamber (2) having an inlet bore (7) for liquid and an outlet bore (8) for liquid, a valve (3) in the chamber (2) for controlling dispense of liquid from the dispenser (1), and valve operating means (4), the valve (3) having first and second valve stems (9, 10) for reception respectively within said inlet bore (7) and within said outlet bore (8), characterised in that said first valve stem (9) is provided with sealing means (16) for sealing said inlet bore (7), and said second valve stem being provided with first, second and third resilient sealing means (22,23,24) for sealing said outlet bore, the arrangement being such that during movement of the valve (3) from a position in which said first resilient sealing means (22) seals the chamber and said second (23) and said third (24) sealing and means seal about the outlet bore (8) to a position in which liquid within the chamber (2) is free to flow through the outlet bore (8), said third resilient sealing means (24) also being arranged to confine the liquid to the outlet bore (8) and the inlet bore (7) is sealed before a said flow of liquid can occur. A liquid dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said valve (3) is resiliently biased into said position in which it entirely seals the outlet bore (8). A liquid dispenser according to claim 1 or 2, wherin said valve operating means (4) is secured to, or is integral with, said valve (3) and includes an internal bore (13) communicating with said outlet bore (8) of said chamber (2) via a transverse bore (15) in said valve (3) for dispense of a said liquid. A liquid dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sealing means (16) on said first valve stem (9) comprise primary resilient sealing means (16) for sealing said inlet bore (7) and auxilary resilient sealing means (17) for sealing said inlet bore (7). A liquid dispenser according to claim 3, wherein said first and second resilient sealing (22, 23) means are arranged to seal the outlet bore (8) upstream of said transverse bore (15) in said valve (3), said third resilient sealing means (24) preventing outflow of liquid through the outlet bore (8) other than through said transverse bore (15). A liquid dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said valve (3) includes a radially extending flange (17) and wherein the liquid dispenser (1) includes an air inlet valve (20) arranged to be actuated by said radially extending flange (17). A liquid dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said chamber (2) is at least partially composed of transparent polystyrene. A liquid dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said valve (3) is composed of acetal resin.

Inventors: WALLACE, KENNETH JOHN
Applicants: GASKELL AND CHAMBERS LIMITED
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B67D3
IPC codes: B67D3