Abstract:
An improved pump is provided that is capable of achieving excellent back suction function by using a depression head, without compromising the ease of depression operations of the head due to the additional function. The pump includes a depression head and an annular piston. The depression head is urged upward and is relatively displaceable with respect to the stem. When depressed, a lever member of the depression head operates to open a discharge opening. An annular piston opens a discharge valve, in an uppermost displacement position and closes the discharge valve in a lowermost displacement position. Back suction is caused due to a negative pressure state occurring in the stem until the discharge valve seat is closed by the annular piston during upward displacement of the stem.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a pump, and more particularly to a pump that has a back suction mechanism that is easy to depress and capable of favorable shut-off of fluid leakage. 
     RELATED ART 
     The present inventors have proposed a depression head for a pump that is easy to depress and also capable of favorable shut-off of fluid leakage (e.g. refer to JP-A-2004-000834). 
     The depression head for a pump described in JP-A-2004-000834 is adapted to be mounted to a pump in which an upwardly urged and depressible stem extends vertically and is characterized by comprising; a mounting tubular member having a mounting tube suspended downward from a bottom surface of a top plate to be fitted onto an upper edge of the stem, and a sliding tube communicating with an inside of the stem and standing upward from the top plate; a body that is depressible with respect to the mounting tubular member, the body having a cylinder slidably fitted to an outer circumference of the sliding tube and a valve chamber above the cylinder, the valve chamber provided with an dispensing opening at a tip thereof; a valve member that is slidably fitted at a rear portion of a periphery thereof to an inner periphery of the valve chamber and is configured to form a passage leading from a communication port, which is in communication with the cylinder, to the discharging opening while closing the discharging opening when urged forward; and a lever member that is connected at un upper end thereof to a rear end of the valve member and abutted at a lower end thereof against an upper surface of the top plate and is configured to swingably pivot so as to pull the valve member rearward when the body is depressed with respect to the mounting tubular member, wherein a resistive force against the depression of the body with respect to the stem is smaller than a resistive force against the depression of the stem itself. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     As mentioned above, the pump using the depression head has advantageous characteristics that the head can be easily depressed with a little force and that the favorable shut-off of fluid leakage is obtained. 
     The present invention proposes an improved pump using such a depression head to take advantage of the aforementioned characteristics of the depression head, and also capable of achieving excellent back suction function in addition to the aforementioned characteristics without compromising the ease of depression operations of the head due to the additional function. 
     The pump according to the present invention is adapted to be vertically suspended in and mounted to a container body for discharge of fluid stored in the container body. The pump includes a cylinder having a suction valve at a bottom thereof and an actuator member urged upward and also depressible with respect to the cylinder. The actuator member includes a stem having a bottomed tubular shape urged upward and also depressible, a depression head urged upward and relatively displaceable upward and downward with respect to the stem, and an annular piston provided around an outer circumference of the stem for relative upward and downward displacement with respect to the stem. The depression head has: a valve chamber provided with a discharge opening at a tip thereof; an opening-closing valve member disposed in the valve chamber in a manner such that the opening-closing valve member is urged toward the discharge opening; and a lever member connected at an upper end thereof to a rear end of the opening-closing valve member, and is configured such that, when depressed, the lever member of the depression head operates to open the discharge opening by displacing the opening-closing valve member and that a resistive force against the depression of the depression head with respect to the stem is smaller than a resistive force against the depression of the stem itself. The annular piston has a lower end forming a discharge valve in cooperation with a discharge valve seat protruding from the outer circumference of the stem and is configured to be pressed against the valve seat to close the discharge valve at a lowermost displacement position and displaced off the discharge valve seat to open the discharge valve at an uppermost displacement position. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the annular piston has an H-shaped cross section formed by joining an outer peripheral tubular portion and an inner peripheral tubular portion with a joining portion, the outer peripheral tubular portion being fitted at upper and lower edges thereof to an inner periphery of the cylinder for a leak tight sliding contact with the cylinder and the inner peripheral tubular portion being fitted at an upper edge thereof to an inner periphery of a sealing tubular portion for a leak tight sliding contact with the sealing tubular portion, the sealing tubular portion being suspended around the outer circumference of the stem to form a double tube structure, and the discharge valve is formed by an lower edge of the inner peripheral tubular portion in cooperation with the discharge valve seat, and the annular piston is relatively displaced upward and downward with respect to the stem from a position where the lower edge of the inner peripheral tubular portion is pressed against the discharge valve seat to a position where an upper end surface of the connecting part is abutted against a lower end surface of the sealing tubular portion. 
     In the above embodiment, a stroke width from the position where the lower edge of the inner peripheral tubular portion of the annular piston is pressed against the discharge valve seat to the uppermost displacement position is preferably selected so that back suction is caused due to a negative pressure state in the stem occurring until the discharge valve seat is closed by the annular piston during upward displacement of the stem, and more preferably, greater than 1.5×10 −3  m. 
     Furthermore, the suction valve preferably comprises a pressure-contact valve in which a pressure-contact valve body is constantly pressed against a suction valve seat. Moreover, the pump further comprises: a first resilient member urging the stem; and a second resilient member urging the opening-closing valve member, wherein resilience of the second resilient member is selected to be smaller than resilience of the first resilient member. 
     In the present invention, when the actuation member is displaced upward after being depressed, the opening-closing valve member of the depression head remains opened, and therefore a favorable back suction effect is created due to the negative pressure state occurring in the stem until the discharge valve seat is closed by the annular piston. The pump according to the present invention is also characterized in that the actuation member can be depressed with a little force. Moreover, even compared with a possible case where an opening is created at a bottom of the stem and a poppet valve body or like is inserted through the opening such that the poppet valve body is displaceable upward and downward for the sake of buck suction effect, the pump according to the present invention is easier to depress because excessive friction force is prevented from being applied to the actuation member. 
     With the structure that the annular piston has an H-shaped cross section formed by joining an outer peripheral tubular portion and an inner peripheral tubular portion with a joining portion, the outer peripheral tubular portion being fitted at upper and lower edges thereof to an inner periphery of the cylinder for a leak tight sliding contact with the cylinder and the inner peripheral tubular portion being fitted at an upper edge thereof to an inner periphery of a sealing tubular portion for a leak tight sliding contact with the sealing tubular portion, the sealing tubular portion being suspended around the outer circumference of the stem to form a double tube structure, and that the discharge valve is formed by an lower edge of the inner peripheral tubular portion in cooperation with the discharge valve seat, and the annular piston is relatively displaced upward and downward with respect to the stem from a position where the lower edge of the inner peripheral tubular portion is pressed against the discharge valve seat to a position where an upper end surface of the connecting part is abutted against a lower end surface of the sealing tubular portion, clear differences exist between inside and outside of the annular piston in terms of friction when the stem is displaced upward from the lowermost displacement position because of the presence of the outer peripheral tubular portion sliding at its upper and lower edges and the inner peripheral tubular portion sliding at its upper end, and unfavorable situations where the annular piston is displaced upward together with the stem or relatively displaced downward after the displacement of stem are prevented. When the stem is displaced downward from the uppermost displacement position also, unfavorable situations where the annular piston is displaced downward together with the stem or relatively displaced upward after the displacement of the stem are prevented, and accordingly, smooth operations are made possible. 
     With the structure that a stroke width from the position where the lower edge of the inner peripheral tubular portion of the annular piston is pressed against the discharge valve seat to the uppermost displacement position is greater than 1.5×10 −3  m, a sufficiently large negative pressure is guaranteed in the stem regardless of size of a diameter of the sealing tubular portion, which results in a more reliable back suction effect. Note that the above stroke width is applied to a handheld type product and a household product that generally utilizes the above type of pump. 
     With the structure that the suction valve comprises a pressure-contact valve in which a pressure-contact valve body is constantly pressed against a suction valve seat, it is assured that the suction valve is closed until the annular piston is initially closed when the stem is displaced upward after being displaced downward, which results in an even more efficient back suction effect. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a longitudinal section view of a pump according to Embodiment 1. 
         FIG. 2  is an enlarged view of main parts of the pump shown in  FIG. 1  for illustrating effects of the pump. 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged section view of main parts of a pump according to Embodiment 2. 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarged section view of main parts of a pump according to Embodiment 3. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 
       FIG. 1  shows one example of a pump  1  mounted to a container body  100 . The container body  100  has a trunk portion  101 , a shoulder portion  102 , and a mouth-and-neck portion  103  standing from the trunk  101  via the shoulder portion  102 . 
     The pump  1  includes a mounting cap A, a cylinder B, a suction valve member C, and an actuation member D. 
     The mounting cap A includes a screw tube  10  screwed around an outer periphery of the mouth-and-neck portion  103 , a top plate  11 , and a guiding tube  12 . The screw tube  10  is suspended downward from a back surface of an outer peripheral portion of the top plate  11 , and the guiding tube  12  extends upward from an upper surface of the top plate  11 . An inner surface of the guiding tube  12  is provided with a pair of guiding recesses  13  extending longitudinally. 
     The cylinder B has a cylindrical shape provided with openings at top and bottom and fitted onto the back surface of the top plate  11 , with a flange  20 , which extends outward from an exterior upper end of the cylinder B, fitted onto a back surface of the top plate  11 . The upper end of the cylinder B is also fitted with a latch member B 1  for latching a lower end of a coil spring s. Furthermore, the opening at the bottom is formed as a suction valve hole  22  surroundingly defined by a cylindrical suction valve seat  21 . From the bottom surface, a pipe fitting tube  23  extends in communication with the suction valve hole  22 . The cylinder B is inserted into the container body  100  in a vertically suspended manner to be held and fixed between the mouth-and-neck portion  103  and the top plate  11  of the mounting cap, with the flange  20  mounted on the mouth-and-neck portion  103  via a packing  24 . Moreover, an upper end of a pipe  25  is fitted into the pipe fitting tube  23 , and a lower end of the pipe  25  is vertically suspended toward an inner bottom of the container body  100 . The outer circumference of the cylinder is also pierced with a negative pressure release hole  26 . 
     The suction valve member C includes a fitting tube portion  30  securely fixed to an inner bottom of the cylinder B and a pressure-contact valve body  32  extending from an inner circumference of the fitting tube portion  30  via a plurality of resilient pieces  31  provided circumferentially. The pressure-contact valve body  32  is pressed against the suction valve seat  21  at the bottom of the cylinder B to form a suction valve  33 . The suction valve  33  is configured to be opened when an interior of the cylinder B assumes negative pressure and to return to an original closed state by resilience of the resilient pieces  31  when the negative pressure is released. Furthermore, a supporting platform plate  35  bridges between upper ends of a pair of supporting plates  34  extending upward from either side of the fitting tube part  30 . Note that the supporting platform plate  35  may be configured to define a lowermost displacement position of the stem. 
     The actuator member D includes a stem D 1 , a connecting tubular member D 2 , a mounting tubular member D 3 , an annular piston D 4 , and a depression head D 5 . 
     The stem D 1  has a bottomed tubular shape having an opening at an upper end and is urged upward by the coil spring s which is engaged at its lower end by the latch member B 1 . Furthermore, a discharge valve seat  40  is provided to project from an end portion of a periphery of the stem D 1 , and tubular wall portion right above the discharge valve seat  40  is pierced with a plurality of discharge valve holes  41 . An upper portion of the stem D 1  also connects to the mounting tubular member D 3  via the connecting tubular member D 2 . A lower portion of the connecting tubular member D 2  is fitted over the upper portion of the stem D 1 , and a lower end of the fitted portion is formed as a large-diameter sealing tubular portion  50  for creation of annular space in which a part of the annular piston D 4  is fitted between the stem D 1  and the connecting tubular member D 2 . In an upper end of the periphery of the connecting tubular member D 2 , a latch member  51  is fitted for engagement with an upper portion of the coil spring s. 
     The mounting tubular member D 3  includes a mounting tube  60  suspended downward from a back surface of a top plate portion  61  to be fitted onto an upper inner part of the connecting tubular member D 2 , and from middle of the top plate portion  61 , a slide tube  62  stands upward in communication with an interior of the mounting tube  60 . Furthermore, a guiding tubular portion  63  is circumferentially provided around, over, and under a periphery of the top plate portion  61 . 
     The annular piston D 4  has an H-shaped cross section formed by joining an outer peripheral tubular portion  70  and an inner peripheral tubular portion  71  with a joining portion  72 , and the outer peripheral tubular portion  70  is fitted at its upper and lower edges to an inner periphery of the cylinder B for a leak tight sliding contact with the cylinder B and the inner peripheral tubular portion  71  is fitted at its upper edge to an inner periphery of the sealing tubular portion  50  for a leak tight sliding contact with the sealing tubular portion  50 . The annular piston D 4  is also configured to be relatively displaceable upward and downward with respect to the stem D 1  from a position where a lower edge of the inner peripheral tubular portion  71  is in sealed contact with the discharge valve seat  40  to a position where an upper end surface the joining portion  72  abuts against a lower end surface of the sealing tubular portion  50 , thus forming a discharge valve  73  in cooperation with the discharge valve seat  40 . 
     In the present example, a stroke width between the position where the lower edge of the inner peripheral tubular portion  71  of the annular piston D 4  is pressed against the discharge valve seat  40  as shown in  FIG. 2A  and the uppermost displacement position (d) as shown in  FIG. 2B  may be basically determined appropriately so that desirable fluid flow is achieved, and is preferably from around 0.5×10 −3  m to 1.0×10 −3  m, for example. Note that the stroke width here is applied to a handheld type product and a household product that generally utilizes the above type of pump having a sealing tubular portion  50  with an inner diameter of approximately 2×10 −3  m to 15×10 −3  m. Although the stroke width in the above range is sufficient to achieve the back suction effect, a more reliable and optimal back suction effect can be obtained by increasing the stroke width. When increased, the stroke width is preferably 1.5×10 −3  m or more. By making the stroke width greater than the above value, a significant effect of the stroke width is obtained even when the diameter of the stem D 1  or the sealing tubular portion  50  is more or less varied due to size of the pump within the aforementioned targeted range. 
     The depression head D 5  is connected to the stem D 1  via the mounting tubular member D 3  such that the depression head D 5  can be depressed with respect to the mounting tubular member D 3 . The depression head D 5  has a cylindrical portion  80  fitted to an outer circumference of the slide tube  62  in a manner such that the cylindrical portion  80  is slidable downward, and a valve chamber R above the cylindrical portion  80 , the valve chamber R provided with a discharge opening  81  at its tip, and thus depressible with respect to the tubular member D 3 . 
     Inside the valve chamber R, an opening-closing valve member D 6  urged toward the discharge opening  81  is also provided. The opening-closing valve member D 6  has an outer periphery (of an inverted skirt-like shape) slidably fitted to an inner circumference of the valve chamber R and closes the discharge opening  81  when urged forward. The valve chamber R is also connected in its interior into the cylindrical portion  80  via a communication port, thus forming a fluid passage leading from the cylindrical portion  80  to the discharge opening  81  via the communication port. As the means for urging the opening-closing valve member D 6  forward, second coil spring s/is interposed both in front of a rear wall of the valve chamber R and in a branch area of the inverted skirt-like shape. The opening-closing valve member D 6  is also configured to project at its rear end from a window opening provided in the rear wall of the valve chamber R, and the projecting portion is provided with an annular recess in which a lever member is fitted. 
     The lever member D 7  is provided inside the depression head D 5 . The lever member D 7  has an upper end connected to the rear end of the opening-closing valve member D 6  and a lower end abutted against an upper surface of the top plate portion  61  and is swingably pivoted to pull the opening-closing valve member D 6  rearward when the depression head D 5  is depressed with respect to the mounting tubular member D 3 . 
     The lever member D 7  shown in the exemplary figure has a vertical plate  90 , whose upper end is connected to the rear end of the opening-closing valve member D 6 , and a double-branched slant plate  91  extending forward and downward from a lower end of the vertical plate portion  90 . The lower ends of the double-branched slant plate  91  are in abutment contact with the upper surface of the top plate portion  61  located on either side of the slide tube. The vertical plate  90  is provided with a notch in middle of its upper end portion, and the connection between the lever member D 7  and the opening-closing valve member D 6  is achieved by engaging the aforementioned annular recess of the opening-closing valve member D 6  with the notch. 
     Furthermore, the lever member D 7  has a bent portion from which a pivot axis protrudes to both sides, and both sides of the pivot axis are rotatably fit to respective bearings. With the above structures, the upper part of the vertical plate  90  defining the connection area is constantly urged forward due to the opening-closing valve member D 6  urged forward by the second coil spring s 1 , and when the depression head D 5  is depressed, the top plate portion  61  of the mounting tubular member D 3  lifts the slant plate  91  to cause the lever member D 7  to be rotated. Upon rotation, the lever member D 7  pulls the opening-closing valve member D 6  rearward against the forward biasing force of the second coil spring s 1 . 
     In the above depression head D 5 , the resistive force against the depression of the depression head D 5  with respect to the stem D 1  is made smaller than the resistive force against the depression of the stem itself. In order to achieve the above feature, basically it is only necessary to select resilience of a resilient member used for urging the opening-closing valve member D 6  forward, i.e. the second coil spring s/, to be smaller than resilience of a resilient member used for urging the stem of the pump upward, i.e. coil spring s, in consideration of other elements, such as friction between the slide tube and the cylinder or friction occurring during swing movements of the lever member. 
     The depression head D 5  also includes at its lower outer periphery a pair of protrusions  82  fitted into a corresponding one of the guiding recesses  13  provided in the guiding tube  12  so that each protrusion  82  can be displaced upward and downward. 
     According to the pump  1  structured as described above, when the depression head D 5  is depressed from the state shown in  FIG. 1 , the stem D 1  initially remains undepressed, and the depression head D 5  is displaced downward with respect to the mounting tubular member D 3 . Consequently, the lower end of the lever member D 7  is lifted by the upper surface of the top plate portion  61  of the mounting tubular member D 3  and rotated about the pivot axis until the upper end of the lever member D 7  pivotally swings rearward to cause the opening-closing valve member D 6  to be displaced rearward against the resilience of the second coil spring s 1 , which causes the discharge opening  81  to open. 
     Subsequently, the stem D 1  is displaced downward, and accordingly, the annular piston D 4  is displaced upward relative to the stem D 1  to open the discharge valve  73 . Then, pressurized fluid contained in the cylinder B starts to flow into the stem D 1  via the discharge valve hole  41 , is introduced into the slide tube  62 , and subsequently passes through the cylindrical portion  80  and the valve chamber R to be discharged through the discharge opening  81 . 
     Next, when the depression head D 5  is released from the depression force, the depression head D 5  is initially displaced upward by the upward biasing force of the stem D 1 . However, in this circumstance, the stem D 1  starts to be displaced upward before the depression means, such as a user&#39;s hand, is completely taken off the top of the depression head D 5 , while the discharge opening  81  still remains opened. At the same time, the annular piston D 4  is displaced downward relative to the stem D 1 , whereby the discharge valve  73  is closed. In this circumstance, since the stroke width of the annular piston D 4  is made large, the interiors of the stem D 1  and the valve chamber R assume a sufficient negative pressure state to achieve the back suction function until the annular piston D 4  is closed, and therefore, the favorable back suction function is achieved. After that, the finger can be lifted off the top at the user&#39;s discretion, and the opening-closing valve member D 6  is displaced forward by the resilience of the second coil spring s 1  to close the discharge opening  81 . In conjunction with the movement of the opening-closing valve member D 6 , the lever member D 7  pivots to lift the depression head D 5  upward with respect to the mounting tubular member D 3 , bringing the mounting tubular member D 3  and the depression head D 5  back into the original state. 
     In response to the upward movement of the actuator member D, the interior of the cylinder B transitions to the negative pressure state, and accordingly, the suction valve  33  is opened so that the fluid contained in the container body  100  is introduced into the cylinder B through the pipe  25 . 
       FIG. 3  shows a pump according to Embodiment 2. This pump is modified in comparison with the example of  FIG. 1  in that the coil spring s is interposed between the suction valve member C and the stem D 1 . In the case of Embodiment 2, the suction valve member C is modified in comparison with the example of  FIG. 1  in that a bar  36  is provided to stand from an upper surface of the supporting platform plate  35  to be engaged with the lower end of the coil spring s. The upper portion of the coil spring s is latched by a latch  42  protruding from the bottom surface of the stem D 1  and having a tubular portion supported by a plurality of clips. The pump according to Embodiment 2 has substantially the same structures as in the example of  FIG. 1 , and a description of such structures is omitted. 
       FIG. 4  shows a pump according to Embodiment 3. It should be noted that the same reference numerals are assigned to the same components as those used in Embodiments 1 and 2, and a description of such components is omitted. The following describes modified points only. The pump is characterized in that the cylinder B does not include the negative pressure release hole  26  and that ambient air is prevented from flowing into the container body  100  even after actuation of the pump. Because of the above characteristics, the pump can be combined with a container body in which a middle plate (bottom) is displaced upward with a decrease in container contents, as a High Viscosity Dispenser (HVD) (as shown in  FIG. 4  in a state where the middle plate (bottom) has been displaced upward). In this case, a need for providing the pipe  25  at the end of the cylinder B is omitted since the container body  100  remains filled with the contents nearly to the top. The pump according to Embodiment 3 may also be suitably applied to a delamination bottle in which an outer container and an inner bag are layered such that the layers can be split from each other, or a double container in which an additional container that can be downsized with the decrease in the contents is disposed in the outer container. The pump is also characterized in that the pressure-contact valve body  32  has a thin walled portion  37  in a portion of the pressure-contact valve body  32  facing the suction valve hole  22  that is smaller in thickness than a portion of the pressure-contact valve body  32  abutted against the valve seat. Forming the thin walled portion  37  as above helps prevent molding defects (so-called sink marks) attributed to material shrinkage during molding, thereby offering a guarantee of a reliable abutment of the pressure-contact valve body  32  with the suction valve seat  22 . As a result, sealing performance of the suction valve is improved, which leads to a stable discharge amount of the pump. The thin walled portion  37  may be applied to the pumps according to Embodiments 1 and 2 as well. 
     REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 
       1  Pump 
     A Mounting cap 
       10  Screw tube 
       11  Top plate 
       12  Guiding tube 
       13  Guiding recess 
     B Cylinder 
       20  Flange 
       21  Suction valve seat 
       22  Suction valve hole 
       23  Pipe fitting tube 
       24  Packing 
       25  Pipe 
       26  Negative pressure release hole 
     B 1  Latch member 
     C Suction valve member 
       30  Fitting tube portion 
       31  Resilient piece 
       32  Pressure-contact valve body 
       33  Suction valve 
       34  Supporting plate 
       35  Supporting platform plate 
       36  Bar 
       37  Thin walled portion 
     D Actuation member 
     D 1  Stem 
       40  Discharge valve seat 
       41  Discharge valve hole 
       42  Latch 
     D 2  Connecting tubular member 
       50  Seal tube portion 
       51  Latch member 
     D 3  Mounting tubular member 
       60  Mounting tube 
       61  Top plate 
       62  Slide tube 
       63  Guiding tubular portion 
     D 4  Annular piston 
       70  Outer peripheral tubular portion 
       71  Inner peripheral tubular portion 
       72  Joining portion 
       73  Discharge valve 
     D 5  Depression head (R: valve chamber) 
       80  Cylindrical portion 
       81  Discharge opening 
       82  Protrusion 
     D 6  Opening-closing valve member 
     D 7  Lever member 
       90  Vertical plate 
       91  Slant plate 
     s Coil spring 
     s 1  Second coil spring 
       100  Container body 
       101  Trunk portion,  102  Shoulder portion,  103  Mouth-and-neck portion